To Protect
by SmirkJr
Summary: Far into the future, you would have thought they would've made flying cars by now. Yeah, not so much. Aizen managed to kill almost everyone before he bit off more than he could chew. Luckily, Ichigo may be able to change that... well, with a little help from Urahara and Tessai as fellow survivors. Rated M for swearing. No lemons.
1. Epilogue: Ending the End

Yo! I thought I'd make a Bleach story (or at least start one and finish later). This is a time travel story (ever notice that those stories never end up finished? Damn unreliable authors... oh, wait...) but with a twist... of course, other than the fact that this Ichigo is older.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach (sadly).

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"How are you doing, Kurosaki-san?"

It had been years since Hat-and-Clogs had said anything like that. In all honesty, Ichigo was going to scowl at him, but he had been too disheartened to even put up even a façade of well-being. He just sat with the forlorn look on his face, not changing his demeanor one bit as he turned his head to look at his Zanjutsu (swordsmanship) teacher. He had every right to do so. It hurt to look around the area where he was sitting right now.

"Not well, Urahara-san," he replied, looking back down to the ground.

Ichigo had been through a lot. Losing against a foe who killed everyone (literally) except for three people, then subsequently killed himself due to his insanity, tended to take a toll on you. He had already lost an eye to that bastard, which he wore an eyepatch over.

Urahara thought better of saying something when nothing particularly comforting had come to mind, so he resolved to look around at the destruction. Right now, they were in a dilapidated, outdated version of Karakura Town, the home of the Substitute Soul Reaper. No, wait... that would be the _former_ Substitute Soul Reaper. He still couldn't believe that it had been two whole centuries since he first defeated Aizen. The destruction everywhere was still sobering, at least. Buildings were either overturned, ground to dust, or simply embedded into the ground. All the color had been gone from this place for a while now, leaving only the brown dirt, the cracked gray stone and black asphalt, and the bent/broken pieces of metal everywhere. Kisuke could see stoplights cracked and shards of glass coated in red. There were craters everywhere around the town from where... _that_ had happened. Neither of them liked to think about it much considering it only brought more sadness.

"Aizen's dead, but... they're all gone, Urahara. Orihime, Chad, Ishida... Not to mention all my other friends from school and the Soul Reapers from the Gotei 13..." Urahara looked back down to the downtrodden Soul Reaper. He wasn't going to reply, but he couldn't stand to see Ichigo like this again. It had been a long time... In most other situations, one would have gotten over an emotional trauma by _now_ , but this... this was certainly not just an 'emotional trauma' in the slightest. Aizen had killed them all as if they were worthless. Even after everything Ichigo had done to fight Aizen whenever he reared his ugly head, the pseudo-immortal bastard had still managed to create the Ōken. No, not that first time with the Espada, but far, far later, after the Tentai Kecchu had already been used to swap the real Karakura with the replica again (since it was believed that Aizen would be sealed away for 20,000 years and the human residents all needed to be in their own world since they weren't dead yet). Of course, the leftover, half-mad Sternritter just _had_ to endanger Soul Society by releasing him again before then, and of _course_ , Aizen took advantage of his freedom to fade into obscurity, and of _course_ he used the next century or so to plan his next attempt to reach his goal. And only Ichigo, Urahara, and a few others that had been murdered truly knew his real goal: to usurp the Soul King as the ruler of the three worlds: Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living were included. What Aizen hadn't known, however, was that there was more to sitting on the throne than commanding subjects or building a city, a fact he learned the hard way when he sat there and burned away right in front of Ichigo, leaving the Hōgyoku behind.

Ichigo touched that spot again under his eyepatch, where the Hōgyoku had merged with him like it did with Aizen. That was 100 years ago, after he had already "died." It wasn't that Ichigo particularly _wanted_ that to happen, but the Hōgyoku deemed him its next master, which Ichigo was particularly put off by, considering it seemed rather selfish to ask someone else to be your master simply because you wanted to live and avoid the consequences of your actions. Still, all the same, he took in the Hōgyoku anyway. It merged with him, giving him the power to make desires come true (and, subsequently, choose who gets their wishes), but it didn't help now. He couldn't save those he lost to the inevitable war Aizen waged against everyone (and won). He couldn't even save his own human body. Even Ichigo, who had been training for a while, hadn't been able to win in the end. He could still recall Aizen's final moments clearly. The ending didn't feel great, like he had just beat an enemy army, but it felt more like the silence after winning a war where you just lost too much. Except they _hadn't_ won the war. Aizen lost, but so did the Gotei 13... so did the Visoreds... so did the Arrancars... even the Sternritter had all been annihilated. And after some of them had become allies, too...

Urahara simply looked upon the boy with an emotion similar to guilt. It was called sympathy a while ago. Now it was called comfort, but what it was hadn't changed. He remembered all that had happened, starting from Ichigo and that incident with Kon. That was too long ago, in his opinion. He reminisced on how things had been going well for a while; Ichigo, in time, managed to rescue Rukia from her unjust death after fighting the Gotei 13, managed to apparently defeat many of the Espada, was able to help the seal he had placed on Aizen take effect after reducing Aizen's power drastically (albeit with the equally-drastic Final Getsuga Tenshō), and even went on to defeat the Sternritter. Unfortunately, Aizen had already recovered and started planning his second attempt into the Soul King's throne immediately after, and Ichigo had not heard anything more of Aizen until he was much older (by human standards, anyway), when he had already had a wife and children. Heck, even his sisters could defend themselves from smaller threats at that point, having awoken a power thanks to the residual Hollow Reiatsu their mother had in her when she had already had Karin and Yuzu. However, Aizen disrupted things once again and managed to 'kill' Ichigo. He kept on fighting anyway. In the end, Aizen had decided to do things himself with his new-found power of mutation (he called it 'evolution,' so he must be bonkers) and other new developments that had come courtesy of the Hōgyoku, and managed to get through to the Soul King's Palace. Ichigo had followed him, but he was too late. Aizen had him bound in Bakudō 99 Part 1: Kin (with full chant, too) and Bakudō 99 Part 2: Bankin (also full chant). This way, Ichigo couldn't move his arms to use his sword if he wanted to, but he struggled anyway. He finally escaped, only to watch Aizen sit on the throne... and burn away as a result, screaming in agony. He faded away, taking the remnants of his Kidō and his screaming with him.

Urahara knew he didn't hear anything but facts, but he didn't need to ask how Ichigo felt. After all... he knew that, while he was feeling the same feeling that Ichigo was, Ichigo had it worse. He was in love and his lover was murdered. He was close with his family and his family was killed. He tried to protect his children, but they died anyway. He couldn't even get over to the Seireitei fast enough to protect any of his Soul Reaper friends when Aizen chose to direct his forces to Soul Society second, after defiling the World of the Living just for revenge. Urahara, on the other hand, didn't have a lover, or children, or a family (unless you counted his weird friendship with Yoruichi, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu as being 'family,' which is how he liked to think of it), and he had far fewer friends to grieve for. He only lost Yoruichi, Jinta, Ururu, and Ichigo's friends; Ichigo lost far more.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ichigo turned to look at him. "Yeah."

They stayed as they were for a few minutes, but they really couldn't tell how long it had actually been. It felt like hours to them, hours of silence interrupted by the appearance of four figures.

" **Yo, King, how long are you gonna be mopin' for? The rain is seriously killing my mood in there!** "

Ichigo turned his head to look at the four figures. One was the very familiar tall old man wearing a coat-like Shihakushō and dark tinted glasses whom Ichigo had come to know the true nature of with (very painful) war time. The figure on his right was the familiar extremely-pale, white-haired, gold-eyed (with black sclera), double-toned carbon copy of Ichigo that he had found to be the monstrous Hollow he contained in his inner world as his Zanpakutō spirit, clothed in and wielding a blade inverted in color to Ichigo's own. The figure on the former's left was in the form of a girl. She was up to the old man's shoulder, and she looked, in most respects, like a female version of Ichigo, with the exception that she always appeared to be shimmering with a rainbow-colored aura (and the short black hair). The fourth was, simply put, a short, pretty girl with a regal air and a face that said she was a shy little princess and a red kimono that didn't match that description (as in, large splotches of red big enough to cover the entire front of her outfit). She had black hair and was wearing what appeared to be a casual white tank top and skirt under the large blood stains. "Zangetsu, Old Man, Hōgyoku, Benihime," he greeted.

" _Zangetsu has a point. The rain in your inner world has been pouring ever since that day, Ichigo. I am trying to help you, but your condition does not improve no matter what I say or what these two say. I understand your pain, and I wish to help you 'snap out of it,' as it were,_ " the old man affirmed.

" _ **I don't care either way. I don't mind that it rains constantly, but I find myself... unable to simply ignore your current state**_ ," the shimmering figure addressed as Hōgyoku stated stoically, voice also double-edged like his Hollow's.

"I'm sorry you have to endure so much, Kurosaki-kun," the figure left to be Benihime stated apologetically. He could see the genuine concern in her eyes. He simply smiled in response.

"It's okay. None of it was your fault, Benihime. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Hat-and-Clogs over there," Ichigo answered jokingly, pointing to the blond man, who expressed his surprise.

"Huh?" Urahara simply grunted in confusion.

" _Logically, he is right. You are the one who created the Hōgyoku and hid the device inside Kuchiki Rukia's gigai_ ," Old Man Zangetsu pointed out.

" **But Aizen was the jerk who took it _from_ her gigai!** " Zangetsu protested.

"Yeah, Kisuke! If you hadn't just _let_ the Hōgyoku slip into Aizen's grasp, none of this would have ever happened!" Benihime followed up accusingly, pointing at Urahara like he broke the world (which was only slightly exaggerated).

"Uh..." Ichigo started awkwardly.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ichigo?" Kisuke asked, turning to look at him.

"I think Hōgyoku is mad..."

" ** _I would prefer you did not speak of me as a mere object. I find offense in such remarks_** ," the girl intoned just a little too blandly, giving off annoyance more than her voice was before; it was probably her glare that shut them up more (they both gulped).

Kisuke cleared his throat. "Anyway, you are right... it _was_ my fault," he angsted, looking down slightly in disappointment. Ichigo surprised him by putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-san," he remarked.

"It wasn't your fault, idiot. Remember, Aizen was crazy. He eliminated the Soul King just to try to fill his shoes, which failed in the end. Besides, you tried to fix your mistake, so it's not like anyone blames you for losing to Aizen. In fact, I do believe there aren't many people here anyway. Without the Soul King, those who have died have all either become Hollows or became completely erased," Ichigo consoled him.

Urahara paused for a moment to take that in while Ichigo continued. "Either way, there isn't any way we can change what happened in the past, so we have to get over it," was the way he finished his speech. Urahara and Benihime shared a look at that, getting the attention of the other four. "Is something wrong?"

"Actually... there may be a way to do exactly that," Urahara stated, to the shock of the four other spirits (which doesn't include Benihime.)

"Eh? Do what?" Ichigo asked, tilting his head.

"To go and change what happened in the past," Benihime jumped in with the answer, her serious voice returning.

" **What? That's just plain crazy! Unless...** " Zangetsu exclaimed.

" _Urahara, have you invented a way to travel back in time?_ " Old Man Zangetsu asked calmly, his expression unchanging.

"Uh..." he started, but was interrupted by a very familiar Reiatsu approaching them. Everyone turned to where the new presence was coming from, to find Tessai (what, did you just _assume_ I killed him off? I never said Tessai _died_...) appear to the group in a Flash Step.

"Tessai-san," Ichigo greeted.

"Is it ready?" Benihime asked.

"Yes, Urahara-dono, Benihime-dono," he stated.

"We must hurry. Come on, everyone," Urahara stated gravely, vanishing with a Flash Step along with Benihime and Tessai. Ichigo, stunned for only a moment, followed with his three spirits in the same manner.

* * *

When they finally made it to the lab, which was in Soul Society (Kurotsuchi Mayuri had excellent equipment, which was easy to notice once you got used to the fact that he was slightly crazy and yet still so logical), Urahara and Benihime began typing away at some of the consoles that belonged to the Department of Research and Development while Tessai was chanting. Ichigo had come inside seconds after the first three, and now, the door now closed, he marveled at the contents of this room. "I've never been to this lab before," he noted out loud.

" _It appears you were wrong again to assume we have seen all the labs under the Department of Research and Development_ ," Old Man Zangetsu stated. It seemed to be an inside joke to Urahara, but he didn't have the focus to think upon it.

"Forget that already, will ya?" Ichigo commented exasperatedly.

" **You gotta admit, King, you walked yourself into that one** ," Zangetsu commented before cackling.

" _ **Shut up. Your cackle is extremely annoying**_ ," Hōgyoku commented, her annoyed tone showing through.

"If you four are done with your comedy routine, then I will start explaining what's under the tarp," Urahara commented casually, yet he was not smiling.

" _Please do_ ," the old man commented swiftly.

"Benihime, if you would," Urahara told his Zanpakutō spirit, who obliged and pulled the tarp down to reveal a Senkaimon. It seemed different from Kisuke's normal Senkaimon. For starters, it didn't have the appearance of a stone border of a double door, but the appearance of a clock. It was circular, with the outside labeled like a clock should be, and the numbers appeared to be glowing white. Kisuke then finished up with the console and it came to life, showing the inside of the Dangai. Soon after, Tessai finished chanting and a white film appeared in the door-like space of the Senkaimon. Urahara started explaining. "Ever since Aizen died, I have been working on how to time travel, seeing as it was more viable an option than starting the human race all over again (not to mention less fictional). So, my musings brought me upon the Dangai. I have researched for a while how the Dangai works, since I didn't know the specifics at the time. It's truly quite fascinating. You see, I already knew that time flows far faster in the Dangai than in Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living. But, after doing some reading, I found that the Dangai can actually be reversed... theoretically. I did some experimenting and I believe I've found just the right combination of Kidō and the devices in this lab. I believe I've just cracked time travel," Kisuke explained.

"'Reverse the Dangai'? How?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, I don't know how to explain it in layman terms and the full explanation is too long besides. But what I did was I reversed the flow of time in the Dangai to flow _backwards_ , as well as _slower_. Now, instead of 2,000 hours passing in the Dangai for every 1 hour in the other worlds, that same 2,000 hours in the Dangai, that same time period that will feel like an hour to you since we are used to that, will be equivalent to travelling backwards in time 200 years in the World of the Living and Soul Society," Urahara explained further.

"What? I'm going back to when I was sixteen?" Ichigo asked.

" **Holy shit...** " Zangetsu remarked. Huh... guess he _could_ shut up.

" _Does this really work?_ " Old Man Zangetsu asked, clearly concerned.

"I've been studying this for a century. It has to work," Urahara answered confidently, all joking mannerisms aside.

"Wow. So, when do we leave?" Ichigo asked.

"I can't leave," Urahara said, still serious.

"Huh? Why not?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, for starters, the modifications I made to the Dangai make it rather unstable. If there is nobody here to monitor it and make the appropriate changes, you could be flung to the _other_ edge of time. But I don't think I would be suited as well as you to go back to change all this. Kurosaki-san... all this time I've been living around you, I've been able to examine your personality. Even back before the war, you were always making friends in the weirdest of places. I mean, you made friends with most of the Gotei 13 captains and lieutenants whilst waging a war on them, a couple of Former Espada while breaking into Las Noches, even some of the Sternritters, not to mention all your... other friends. It was partially why we survived. But, sadly, it wasn't enough. This world will die, Kurosaki-san, because there's no more Soul King. Nobody has filled the position, or people would reappear here in the World of the Living. Eventually, the souls will die out, and the more time that passes, the faster that happens, if only a little each second. If you go back as you are now, however, you will be strong enough to handle Aizen before he became immortal. This bubble shield Tessai put up should envelop you as you walk through it, preventing anything from happening to you while travelling through the Dangai. If I was right, you should be 200 years into the past while still having all the power you do now."

Ichigo sighed. "Why did it feel like this was bound to happen?" he sighed exasperatedly.

Urahara shrugged. "I dunno. Oh, and one more thing before you leave..."

Ichigo looked at Urahara. "What is it?"

"I want to give Benihime to you."

Ichigo blinked. "Eh? You can do that?"

Urahara nodded. "I talked it over with Benihime and we agreed that it would help you drastically if she went along. Her Shikai ability is a lot like that of your Zangetsu; she can harden Reiryoku and release it in an attack. However, unlike Zangetsu, she can actually _manipulate_ that Reiryoku. She can release it any way she wants, but her named attacks are most powerful. Still, we theorized that she could actually take the Reiryoku you have inside you from when you got your powers back the second time and actually mature Zanpakutō spirits that are identical to those of the Soul Reapers who gave you their power," he explained.

Zangetsu smirked. " **So, Bloody Bag here's gonna give us sons and daughters? Cool** ," he smiled wickedly.

"Cut it out, Zangetsu. You're being creepy," Ichigo reprimanded him. Then, he turned back to Urahara. "And how are you going to 'give me' Benihime? Are you just going to hand her Shikai to me or something?" he asked.

"No. I also built a machine that will actually tie a Zanpakutō to someone else's soul, to put it simply. As you know, Zanpakuto spirits are born with their Soul Reaper and die with their Soul Reaper. If their master dies, so do they. However, Benihime insisted I find a way to save her life. So, being the gracious man that I am, I agreed and started looking," he started.

"Yeah, right, Kisuke! You kept leaving me in your room on purpose just to avoid me! I had to beat you up just to convince you!"

"Shh, shh, Benihime. Now's not the time for that." Urahara tried to calm her.

"Why you...!" ...and it probably didn't work.

"Save the explanations for later, Urahara. How do we do this?" Ichigo interrupted them.

"Right. Step over here, into the right chamber. You need to stick your Shikai into the floor in there," Kisuke commanded.

Ichigo did as told once his spirits dematerialized. The machine looked more like a cloning device than what it was intended for. There were two chambers, each looked identical to the other. Once Ichigo was in, Urahara got inside and pressed what looked like a remote switch. As soon as he did, both chambers became blindingly bright... and then it was over. After the bright Reiatsu disappeared, they stepped out.

"Okay, _now_ I can give you Benihime's Shikai. Here." He handed him the cane sword, which Ichigo held onto. "Now, I need you to travel through the Dangai at the highest speed you can manage. So use your _newer_ Bankai," he instructed.

"Okay." Ichigo leaned the sealed cane sword against a console, took out both of his blades (which were sealed, a remnant of rough war life; Ichigo had to learn how to place a strong seal on himself to limit his power enough for him to seal his blades) and called out his Bankai.

"Bankai: Kirameku Tensa Zangetsu." (Sparkling Heaven-Chain Slaying Moon)

His Bankai didn't look much different, actually. It had all the features of before: cool new shihakusho, smaller _daito_ blade, chain going up his arm. The only new feature was that the coat seemed to display the night sky. And not in the same way as a simple pattern or embroidery; it _shimmered_ with the appearance of the night sky. He also got new glasses on his face reminiscent of Old Man Zangetsu's.

Urahara looked him up and down. "Wow. The Hōgyoku's influence did more than I thought," he noted. "Now, run through with all your-"

...Aaaaaaand he was gone. Honestly, he could have at least let him finish a sentence. Urahara turned to Tessai. "Now, would you do the honors, Tessai?" he asked, turning to him.

"Is it really necessary to do this, Urahara-dono?" he asked, unsure.

"Yes, it is. Because of my machine, both Benihime and Zangetsu are tied to both of us. I will die anyway, but it's better to die now while he is in the Dangai than if he was in the middle of something important. That way, Benihime and Zangetsu can become fully used to drawing only on Ichigo's power so he won't be defenseless when it matters. Now, do it quickly," Urahara explained.

"...Yes, Urahara-dono," Tessai said. He held his palm towards Urahara.

 _I feel kinda bad for lying to Ichigo about needing to stay here..._ ' Urahara thought as Tessai chanted.

Finally, he finished the spell; "Hado 88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

* * *

 ** _Earlier..._**

Ichigo was travelling through the Dangai. He seemed to be doing a good job of running from the cleaner. He left it in the dust a while ago, and he was still running when he suddenly felt an intense pain. Wide-eyed in surprise at the sudden feeling, he stopped flying at high speed, rolled head-over-heels when he hit the ground, and skidded to a stop on his face.

"What the-?" he said, doubled over in pain. He could hear the screams of the blade on his back and the blade in his hand (Benihime). Blood trickled from his mouth.

" **What the hell? What's going on here?** " asked a very mad Zangetsu.

"It's the machine. Kisuke had to kill himself after he used it so Zangetsu and I could get used to only being tied to Ichigo. The pain will subside," Benihime explained.

Ichigo looked back the direction he came. "Urahara-san..." he said forlornly. Then he expressed surprise when the Cleaner came towards him.

" **Shitshitshitshitshit! Move it, King!** " a very surprised Zangetsu screamed at him.

Ichigo couldn't move, however. He tried to move his legs, but he only fell over in response, helpless. Lying on his back, he watched helplessly as the Cleaner knocked into him, making him black out.

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...Done! Please read and review. I will answer reviews in the next chapter's author's note.


	2. Chapter 1: The Future Espada

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach (sadly enough).

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Ichigo's eyes flung open once the feeling of his face against grass registered. He sat up fast, seeing that he still had the blades of Zangetsu and Benihime's cane. Not long after, he heard a tree crumble and fall. This prompted him to notice the destruction around him. Not only was he standing in the center of a giant crater, but the surrounding trees were obliterated, burned away, disintegrated into Reishi. Even with the trees around the crater gone, there was still the noise reminiscent of an earthquake filling his ears. His eyes widened in surprise.

"What the...?" he wondered. The crater itself was about as big as a city block and only getting deeper and wider. This prompted Ichigo to check the back of his right hand for the seal that was supposed to be there. There was nothing there. "Crap!" He quickly placed his hand there and materialized the seal, which stopped the noise and the trees' disintegration. However, he realized he had to leave after sensing a couple Spiritual Pressures closing in on him. They were higher than a typical Captain's level of Reiatsu and somewhat familiar. "Yoruichi? Unohana-san? Old Man Yama?" Then he smacked himself. 'No, wait, that's not Yoruichi's Reiatsu, it's just similar. And I'm pretty sure Old Man Yama and Unohana-san might not recognize me... Wait, what _are_ Old Man Yama and Unohana-san doing in the World of the Living? I need to find out what's going on.' Picking up his larger Zangetsu blade and the cane-sword Benihime, he escaped faster than he ever had using a speed technique he had conceived during his battle with Aizen (the one that ended with Aizen burning away.)

He Flash-Stepped as far from that crater as possible, as fast as his hybrid of speed techniques allowed him to.

* * *

Ichigo landed far, far, far away from the crater with one single leap of his hybrid-speed technique. In fact, he landed in an open field, where, in clear sight, were a one-story cottage on one side and a bunch of buildings on the other, which he guessed was a village, if the people running around were any indication. Looking around, he ran onto the cottage grounds and jumped onto the roof, landing without a sound. He took a minute to catch his breath.

"What the heck is going on here? Why is Unohana-san in the World of the Living?" he questioned out loud.

" _Can you not sense it, Ichigo?_ " asked a familiar voice. Ichigo turned to look at the familiar voice.

"Old Man Zangetsu. Sense what?" Ichigo greeted, asking blankly.

" _This air is dense with Reishi. You_ are _aware of what this means, right?_ " the old man asked.

"Hey, you're right! This can't be the World of the Living!" Ichigo surmised.

" **Ding ding ding, you finally caught on!** " another voice rang out next to him.

Turning to the new arrival, he greeted him. "Zangetsu. Where's Hōgyoku?"

" _ **I am here, Kurosaki Ichigo**_ ," the Hōgyoku called out.

"Me too!" came the last familiar voice.

"Huh? Benihime? How can you manifest? Did Urahara do that? And what's with the white tiara?" Ichigo asked.

Benihime's smile vanished. "Actually... I don't think he's... alive... anymore," she stated somberly.

Ichigo tensed up at that comment. "Huh? But how can he be dead? You're still here. If he was dead, you would be dead too," Ichigo argued.

"That machine you and he stepped into was a machine that pushed me into your inner world, so I could tie myself to _your_ Reiryoku. It allowed me to stay alive on your Reiryoku as well as his. In essence, it allowed me to become _your_ Zanpakutō spirit without cutting my connection to him," Benihime explained.

"He can do that?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes, I already explained this to you. Anyway, I would still be able to sense if he was alive, him being my master and all, but all I sense is your presence. I don't want to believe it, but I am getting the feeling that Kisuke might be dead. Or jumping through time cut off my connection to him, but either way, I can't sense him. As for the tiara... it was Zangetsu's twisted sense of humor," Benihime continued.

Ichigo turned his head to look at the white copy. " **What? Her name is Beni _hime_. It makes a lot of sense, don't you agree?** " he said defensively ("hime" is the word for princess in Japanese).

"'Makes sense' my ass! This thing looks ridiculous on me! You couldn't have at least made it red?!" the crimson-haired lady argued.

" **What? No, of course I couldn't have! _That_ is because of you! My power merging with yours is what gave you that thing! All I could do was sit there and watch!**" Zangetsu shot back fiercely.

While those two were arguing, Ichigo was standing alongside Hogyoku and Old Man Zangetsu, watching on in amusement. He remembered clearly how he had found out Zangetsu's true origins, a Hollow made from a dead Soul Reaper. That had been before the Century War that ended with Aizen's demise at the hands of his own unworthiness (or at least that's what it looked like to Ichigo, since Aizen was unable to usurp the Soul King after all). What he had learned had proven invaluable. Originally named "White," he almost succeeded in Hollowfying his mother, but he failed. Her savior was, he later found out, the former Squad 10 Captain, Shiba Isshin. That was the start of the relationship that ended nine years after his birth, when Grand Fisher struck.

That day was just painful to think about, even with all that had happened in his life.

Even so, White had learned a lot from their trip to Hueco Mundo (the one where they saved Orihime.) He got the idea of plating Ichigo with his Hollow form, mask and horns and all, from seeing Resurreccíon performed by Dordoni, Grimmjow, Nelliel, Nnoitra, and Ulquiorra, not to mention seeing the drastic change that resulted from Yammy's. He may not have been an Arrancar, but he was no ordinary Hollow either; it was this in-between state that allowed him to make it happen. In addition, he was able to teach himself Cero (like all Hollows), he had conceptualized Bala after Yammy so eloquently explained it to him, he learned Hierro from hitting the Espada so many times (and layered Ichigo's body with it after another 'test,' which he only found out later), and he even managed to mimic the Espada's Sonido from seeing it through Ichigo's senses. He was even able to learn and teach Ichigo the act of opening a Garganta, known as Descorrer, as well as how to utilize the Instant Regeneration that belongs to the Hollow that was linked to him as his Zanpakutō spirit. Heck, he even made his own variation of a Cero, much like Nelliel and her Cero Doble technique. All this came from simply being present and watching with Ichigo.

Of course, Ichigo had also ventured to explore the _rest_ of his powers. The looming threat of Aizen pressured Ichigo to master his Zankensoki training from Yoruichi and Urahara, and within a decade he could beat both of them overwhelmingly after taking them both on at once without either of them holding back. And that was just his Soul Reaper powers!

'Anyway, time to save the reminiscing for later,' Ichigo asserted.

"Ichigo," Benihime called to him to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"I think we may actually have gotten hurled back too far into the past," Benihime theorized.

"What makes you say that?" Ichigo asked, an almost innocent expression on his face (then again, an eyepatch ruins all notions of "innocence"... I mean... just look at Kenpachi...).

"Well, there's a boy that looks like a little version of you down there and his siblings just called him Kaien," Benihime stated sarcastically.

"Aaaaand...?" Ichigo asked open-endedly.

"Please don't tell me you don't remember. I read your memories when I became your fourth Zanpakutō spirit. You _know_ who this 'Kaien' is," Benihime scolded him.

"Even so, how does that mean we've travelled back too far?" Ichigo asked flippantly.

" **How many Kaiens do you know, you idiot? Just think!** " Zangetsu berated him.

Ichigo took a second to do just that.

'Well, that name does sound familiar...'

Kaien... Kaien, Kaien, Kaien...

' _Kaien-dono!_ '

Suddenly, he remembered.

'Oh, right, Kaien was Rukia's favorite teacher and Kūkaku and Ganju's brother...'

" **5... 4... 3... 2... 1...** "

"GAH! That's my freaking cousin as a kid!"

" **Way to go, idiot. You just remembered one of the most important people to one of your precious friends. Not only is he your cousin, he's _the only guy you've seen_ who looks _remotely_ like you,** " Zangetsu jeered sardonically.

"Shut up," Ichigo commanded simply and firmly. Zangetsu did not make any more smart comments.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the crash site, at Rukongai 58 (58th Rukon District, I think)...**

The three Reiatsu signatures Ichigo sensed belonged to the Head Captain Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryūsai, Squad 4 Captain Unohana Retsu, and Squad 2 Captain Shihōin Shoka. Yes, a Shihōin; no, not Yoruichi. I am providing this information right now because they just landed at the site of the Reiatsu 'crash,' if you will. The Head Captain couldn't say just what it was from his seat, but he said he could sense Hollow Reiatsu there. Those two happened to be there and offered their help, which he accepted. Neither of them could sense it, so he decided to take them there himself. After all, something with such a massive Reiatsu couldn't just be left without investigation. It'd be kind of like misplacing your coat. You never know what could happen to it. Someone could take it to you or just leave it there until someone is required to throw it away. But I digress.

After touching her feet to the ground, the Squad 2 Captain looked around in amazement. "Daaaamn... what _caused_ this? Looks like a meteor smashed into the ground or something here," she whistled, astonished.

"And this Reiatsu... Head Captain, what is this? How could we not sense it?" Unohana asked in wonderment.

"I do not know," he stated.

"From what I can tell, someone or something with massive Reiatsu let it out, and it was enough to do all this in the short time you described. Wow..." Unohana diagnosed.

"Are you serious? Maybe it was a group of people," Shoka suggested.

"No, I could only sense one person here. Whoever they are, their Reiatsu suddenly dropped drastically such that I can no longer trace them," the Head Captain argued.

"Not to mention the odd composition of this Reiryoku. It's the most peculiar thing I've ever felt before..." Unohana added.

"You know, someone should really start a 'Soul Reaper Research and Development Institute' or something. They would be perfect for something like this," Shoka mused. Unohana just stared at her.

"Well, until someone starts such an institution, Captain Unohana is the captain best fit to study this Reiryoku. Call someone over here to collect a sample. Perhaps we can identify who did this at some point," the Head Captain ordered.

"Yes, Head Captain," she affirmed, sending a Hell Butterfly.

* * *

"Oi, who are you people? And why are you on top of our house?"

Looks like Ichigo and co. have been spotted. Ichigo looked down and thought of what to say.

" _I apologize. We were merely looking for a place to rest. We used to be Soul Reapers_ ," Old Man Zangetsu jumped in.

"Huh? But I thought that orange-haired man was the only Soul Reaper of your group. You four feel like Zanpakutō spirits," he said confusedly, pointing to the four unusual beings (of course, they were more unusual than Ichigo, since the most out-standing thing about him is his eyepatch.)

"Oh, so you _can_ sense what we are," Benihime noted.

"Now I'll ask again. Who are you people?" asked the little boy named Kaien, stepping in front of his siblings.

Ichigo hesitated, thinking for a minute, deliberating. It appeared that he made his decision when he introduced himself.

"My name is Ichigo. These are my Zanpakutō spirits," Ichigo introduced.

"Oh, hi! My name is Shiba Kaien. These are my siblings, Kūkaku and Ganju. Pleased to meet you!" he called back cheerfully.

"So, Mr. Soul Reaper, what are you doing here? Why were you resting on our roof? Are you with the Gotei 13?" Kukaku asked innocently.

Ichigo didn't know how to answer that one at first. Finally he answered. "No, I... retired a long time ago. I was waiting for my powers to come back. My Soul Chain and Soul Sleep were damaged, so I had to be treated and then released while my powers slowly returned," he explained.

"Oh. Have they come back?" Ganju asked innocently. Then he fell over after getting bonked on the head by his sister.

"You idiot. Of course they have. Otherwise, his Zanpakutō spirits wouldn't be able to manifest," she answered him, growling.

"You seem to know a lot about Soul Reapers, kid. Who taught you?" Ichigo asked.

"My uncle Isshin's a Soul Reaper. He visits occasionally, but he usually can't come all the way out here unless it's for a mission. He's achieved Shikai already!" Kaien answered.

"Ah, I see." Ichigo re-manifested his Zanpakutō spirits and sheathed his now-sealed blades, Zangetsu's cloth sheath hanging from his waist (it was still wrapped in cloth even as a sealed katana for some reason) and Benihime was now a katana with a sheath (it appears Urahara's mechanism for making it look like a cane wore off), so he placed that sword at his waist, opposite Zangetsu's. If he had any feeling towards hearing his future father's name as a Soul Reaper, he didn't show it. He jumped down onto the grass.

"Aww, where'd they go? That tall old man was cool!" Kukaku asked.

"Sorry. They wanted to undo their manifestation. They would rather I kept them in sword form in a new-" Ichigo was interrupted by a strong Hollow Reiatsu. Sure, it seemed manageable enough to him, but it was unquestionably strong in its own right. At least a Vasto Lorde-class Menos, by his estimate. There were three other smaller Reiatsu signatures near that first one, but they didn't seem too far behind in strength.

Apparently, Kaien and his siblings could feel it too, but they were too afraid to speak until the pressure let up. Panting, Kaien asked, "Wh-What was that?"

"Apparently, a few strong Hollows. Get inside. I'll deal with them," Ichigo commanded. The three complied and ran through the door and the two retainers inside. Just then, one of the Hollows appeared on the lawn and charged at him, followed by another, then another two who were just spectating, it seemed. They seemed awfully familiar to Ichigo, and their Reiatsu signatures seemed to confirm this.

The first Hollow, a deer-looking Adjuchas, rammed into him with its horns, which Ichigo blocked with one hand. The second, a lion Adjuchas, tried pouncing on him. He merely pinned her onto the ground with his remaining hand. The last two appeared and looked on. One was indeed a Vasto Lorde, the other another Adjuchas.

"Apache! Mila Rose! Sun-Sun, stay back!" she yelled. Holding a sword that appeared as a blunt fish, she ran at him, getting ready for a downward slash. It connected with his arm but did no damage. Surprised, she stepped back and started to think, holding her sword neutral.

As the three of them were attacking him and the fourth was just idling nearby, Ichigo simply stood there, wondering what to do next. 'This Reiatsu... Harribel and her Fracciónes? They looked so different before they became Arrancar... What are they doing here? I thought she wouldn't attack without reason...'

Then he remembered the situation. 'Oh, right, I'm a Soul Reaper and I have my hands on her subordinates, and she doesn't know me... They won't be able to hurt me, at least, but I should probably do something about them before the Gotei 13 arrive...' He reached into his inner world. 'Oi, Zangetsu, can you pull them in here?' he asked.

' **Ah, I get it. You're gonna let me eat them!** " Zangetsu mused.

'No! These four were our allies! Don't eat them, just pull them into my inner world for me! Besides, if you let them get away, they'll only go follow Aizen,' he commanded.

' **Yeah, yeah, King. I was just joking, sheesh!** " Zangetsu griped.

'Don't joke about something like that!' Ichigo told him.

Focusing back on the reality, he let out a burst of his Reiatsu, forcing the four to the ground, then he held out his hands. The four of them became four colors, meaning they turned into wisps of Reiryoku, before they got sucked into his palms, seemingly disappearing off the face of the Soul Society. Letting his arms go limp, he took a deep breath and stood up straight.

Kaien and his siblings, meanwhile, had run outside right before that "cool technique" and were about to run to him when a couple of Soul Reapers arrived. Kaien was kind of surprised, but he just watched on, keeping his siblings away until the Soul Reapers were done with business.

 **Meanwhile, in Ichigo's inner world...**

Apache groaned and rolled into a standing position (since quadrupeds can't stand on only two legs for too long) and surveyed her situation.

"Okay, I feel totally fine and I'm in a weird place where gravity is all sideways. What the hell is going on here?" she surmised.

" _Do not fear. You are in no danger here_ ," came a voice from behind her. Turning, she saw Ichigo's four Zanpakutō spirits: an old man, a white (meaning pale everywhere, you racists) boy, a girl with red hair and matching crimson kimono, and a girl with some sort of rainbow around her. Instinctively, she turned and charged up a Cero with her antlers. She fired it, but the white boy simply raised his sword and blocked it, sending it upward.

"You... you're a Hollow! Who are you?" she demanded.

" **My name is White. But these days I go by Zangetsu,** " he introduced somewhat ironically in a formal manner. Of course, he smirked a wide smirk afterwards, making himself look crazy.

"Where is Harribel-sama?" she yelled.

" _ **You were the first to wake up. She's over there,**_ " the rainbow girl indicated, pointing to where the other three were lying on their sides (or back in Harribel's case.)

Benihime walked forward, smiling, and stood in front of the deer, looking down at her face. "Hi. I'm Benihime. Nice to meet you," she introduced. Instead of Apacci responding, she ran and put herself between her group of Hollows and these strangers.

"What are we doing here?" she asked, growling.

" **Well, King asked me to bring you in here. Don't ask why,** " Zangetsu answered.

" _Listen. He is trying to save your lives_ ," the old man told her.

"Yeah right!" she said sarcastically. Then she visibly un-tensed when she heard voices. Looking around and seeing nobody but those around her, she looked down and noticed that she was seeing the Soul Reapers she was sensing a minute ago. She was hearing their conversation and seeing it, and she decided to pay attention after looking between the window and the four strangers. Delegating the window more interesting and the strangers not a threat, she focused on the window.

" _We were nearby and sensed four powerful Hollows. What happened to them?_ " asked one of them.

" _Oh, I already took care of them,_ " a voice from off the screen answered, which she perceived as the guy she was just trying to skewer.

" _Really? Those were strong Hollows. Are you sure you're alright?_ " the second Soul Reaper on the screen asked.

" _No problems. Really,_ " the offscreen-guy answered.

" _...Okay, if you say so. Just be sure to get back to the Seireitei on time,_ " the first one ordered.

" _Got it,_ " the POV answered. The other two Soul Reapers vanished and the POV sat down and closed his eyes. A minute later, a new stranger appeared behind her. "New" meaning that he wasn't there before, seeing as he was the guy she just tried to shish into a kebab.

 **Meanwhile, inside the house...**

"Kaien-nii, what's he doing? He's just sitting there," Kūkaku asked, watching out the window at the man who just killed off four really powerful Hollows.

"I don't know. It appears that he's trying to talk to his Zanpakutō spirits, but I don't know why. Let's wait for him and ask when he gets up," Kaien answered.

"O-Okay," Ganju answered. The retainers were also looking out the window in interest.

 **Back in Ichigo's inner world of buildings...**

"Ugh... my head... where am I?" Harribel groaned, sitting up groggily. Standing over her were her three subordinates and the Soul Reaper she had just tried to attack. Eyes widening in surprise, she pointed to him and uttered, "You... you saved us, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Well, I had help," he answered, gesturing to Zangetsu, who grinned madly and stuck a hand up in greeting.

" **Yo** ," he greeted.

"A... Hollow?" she asked.

"Long story. I inherited him," Ichigo summarized.

" **Oi! Don't talk about me as if I wasn't here, King! Especially if you're gonna talk like _that_** ," Zangetsu burst out indignantly.

"But I _did_ inherit you," Ichigo pointed out.

" **That's not the point!** " Zangetsu argued even more indignantly.

"Will you two just shut up and explain what the hell is going on here?" Apache growled.

"Alright, alright. My name is Ichigo. Let's get that out of the way first. Over there are Zangetsu, whom you've already met, Old Man Zangetsu, Hōgyoku, and Benihime," Ichigo introduced, pointing to each one of them in turn. Benihime was the only one who waved to them at her turn.

"Very well. I suppose it is the least I owe you for saving us. My name is Tier Harribel. These three are Emiliou Apache, Francesca Mila Rose, and Cyan Sun-Sun. We are just Hollows trying to survive, but we will kill you if you even try to hurt us," she introduced.

"I know. I wasn't going to. In fact, I was thinking of making it easier for you to survive in Hueco Mundo," Ichigo answered.

"Oh? How do you plan on doing that?" Mila Rose asked, getting into a defensive position.

"Simply like so. Hōgyoku, you can do it, right?" Ichigo answered.

" _ **Yes**_ ," she answered back. She walked up to Harribel and tapped her on the forehead before she could react. In a blinding flash of Reiatsu, Harribel reached up to her face. She then transformed, which was evident after the action had died down. Now, rather than being armored in gray, she was now wearing a white Shihakusho with the midriff section cut off. On her feet were now black socks and white sandals. The chest portion of the Shihakusho was unzipped and everyone could see her mask remnants that ran down from her mouth and covered her chest (mostly). Her giant fish sword was now a wide, short sword with a hollowed-out middle portion in a sheath. She looked down and her eyes widened in shock.

"What did you just make me do?" she asked.

" _ **I have helped you rip off your mask. You are now an Arrancar. I released your Reiatsu. That helped alleviate the pain of ripping off the mask which was attached to you physically. I have also bolstered your power. With some training, you should be able to survive more easily in the wasteland of Hueco Mundo**_ ," Hogyoku explained. Then she turned to the other three. " _ **Now I shall do the same for you three.**_ "

"What? _This_ is going to help us survive? How? My Hollow powers disappeared," Harribel asked.

Ichigo walked up to her. "In that form, you've gotten back your ability to reason, which all Hollows lose upon Hollowfication. Not only that, but your Reiatsu would have increased even without Hōgyoku increasing it more," he explained, turning to watch the three other Reiatsu flares as the other three Hollows became Arrancar. Apache was wearing a normal white Shihakushō that almost covered her midriff, but left some exposed, and her mask remnant was really just a horn on a white fragment on her forehead which covered part of her new blue hair. She now had two spiked cuffs on her wrists, one on each. Her eyes were now mismatched, with her left being red and her right being blue. Mila Rose now had brown hair and bright green eyes. Her attire was more Amazonian in nature; a three-section crown and a thick necklace, combined with the skirt and top that only partially covered her breasts. She had a broadsword sheathed next to her. Sun-Sun was wearing a white Shihakushō that had extremely long sleeves and a mask fragment in her olive-colored hair. She had what appeared to be a 'sai,' an old Chinese dagger with a guard that almost reached the tip of the blade. When their Reiatsu disappeared, the three of them fell over, eyes closed.

"Apache! Sun-Sun, Mila Rose!" Harribel shouted worriedly.

"Oh, they're fine. Just tired. They'll be okay," Benihime diagnosed.

Harribel simply stood there after that, thinking. Finally she asked, "...So, are you going to let us go now?"

"No."

"What?"

Harribel hadn't been expecting that answer. They were powerful Hollows; they shouldn't have to be indebted to a Soul Reaper of all people. It was bad enough that they had to be saved from discovery by him, but now he wasn't letting them leave?

Ridiculous.

"After all, you need to get used to being Arrancars. If I just sent you back to Hueco Mundo now, I'd imagine all four of you would be pretty disoriented. You need to get used to fighting with that size sword, and those four have that, plus fighting in a humanoid form to work on. Once you get used to your powers, Zangetsu and I will teach you more," Ichigo explained.

"You? You're just a Soul Reaper. What could you teach us Hollows about our own powers that we wouldn't already know?"

"Resurreccíon."

"I beg your pardon?" Harribel asked.

"See? You don't know everything about your own power. Granted, neither do I, but I know more than you do at this point," Ichigo smirked a friendly smirk. Harribel sighed in exasperation, but she visibly relaxed, which made Ichigo smile. "Well, I should probably get inside the house. Kaien will be worried if I stay out too late just sitting cross-legged in the grass."

...Okay, so maybe _not_ so ridiculous.

Ichigo was about to leave when he remembered something. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to ask. What were you doing here in Soul Society of all places?"

Harribel closed her eyes. "Apache and Mila Rose wished to hunt a Hollow that nearly killed them both. It came straight here, but they wouldn't look around to see they were in a dangerous place. We had to follow them to make sure they stayed out of trouble. You apparently scared it off, no doubt with your Reiatsu, and they became angry that you 'chased away her prey,' as Apache put it," she explained.

Ichigo chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that. Even with my seal, some of my Reiatsu still leaks out. I have terrible control over it, even after all these years, so..." Ichigo let that sentence hang open-ended in the air.

"Seal?" Harribel asked, now sounding genuinely curious.

"Yeah." He showed her the mark on the back of his hand, which resembled the front of a Substitute Soul Reaper Combat Pass. "In my past, I had to fight a war with a man who tried to destroy everything just to rebuild it from the ground up. He was strong, cunning, clever, and had sensory ability that far surpassed my own. This seal only lets less than one percent of my full power through. It was a hasty work-around at the time, but I've refined it so that I can release my power in parts at a time."

Harribel couldn't believe this, even with her now-more logical mind. She had felt his Reiatsu just before he had sucked them in here. It was enough to bring her to her knees, and _that's_ saying something when you consider that she was a Vasto Lorde Menos. If _that_ was not even one percent of what he could unleash... thinking of what it entailed made her shiver. It also compelled her to ask a question.

"Wait, why did you save us? You're a Soul Reaper with an admittedly questionable past and could easily overpower us, and I'm a Vasto Lorde... err, I _was_ , and they were Adjuchas. So why...?" she asked.

"I've always been that way, but I think the best words I have for it are this: I'm not so opinionated that I would kill you just for being a Hollow. You didn't aim for, say, my head. You tried to cut my arm off. I could tell you were just looking out for Mila Rose and Apache, and I'm not going to hold a grudge for it, especially since it didn't work and things still ended well enough," Ichigo answered.

She smiled, but her mask fragment made it hard to notice. "I see... Just who are you, Ichigo?"

He smiled tiredly. "A four-way hybrid with a messed-up life. It's a long story, but I might be able to explain it once I deal with Kaien. I think it's been half an hour since I got here..."

"Do as you wish," Harribel answered.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Whew! I was going to make this chapter longer, but this is a good enough cliffhanger. Also, let me explain something I remembered while editing.

=-Ichigo's Zanpakutō spirits can read his mind, and he theirs, because of their relationship as Soul Reaper-Zanpakuto.-=

Later!


	3. Chapter 2: The Future Progidy Lieutenant

Disclaimer: I don't own Tite Kubo (and, by association, I don't own Bleach).

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ichigo opened his eye. Now he was out in the world of little buildings called Soul Society, freshly departed from his world of tall buildings. He stood up and looked around. It was still light out. 'Okay, now to find a place to sleep,' he asserted. He started walking away when a voice called to him (an _external_ voice. He's not crazy, thank you).

"Oi! Ichigo-san! Where're you going?" It was Kaien.

Ichigo turned around. "I'm going to look for a place to sleep," he answered back.

"Do you have somewhere in mind?"

Ichigo put his hand to his chin for a moment. "No, not really," he finally answered.

"Then why don't you come stay with us? I'm sure our retainers won't mind," Kaien offered.

Ichigo started thinking again, this time for a longer period. 'Should I? He's my future cousin, but that's no reason not to accept his offer...' Then he remembered Rukia, or, more specifically, the bond she shared with the Kaien that was a lieutenant of the Gotei 13. She had kept him in her heart even after he died (her encounter with that 9th Espada that she shared with Ichigo clearly didn't help things). In her account of what happened, Kaien lost to a Hollow who called himself Metastacia because Metastacia had fused with his wife, and they fused after she beat him, with Metastacia taking over. Rukia had to stab Kaien through the heart (his physical one, at least), which hurt her deeply, to the extent that she still hadn't gotten over it when they all went to Hueco Mundo the first time.

' **Yo, King,** ' Zangetsu called from his inner world.

'What is it?'

' **Kaien was too weak to kill Metastacia. You know that, right?** ' he commented.

'I'm sure it was more like "he was caught off guard" by having to fight the one he loved,' Ichigo argued.

' **No, no, no, I'm talking about when Metastacia fused with him. Remember, he said something to Rukia after she stabbed him, and she said he was himself. You would think that he would have died when Metastacia fused with him, but having dying words in the first place is for people who know when they die. Yeah, Kaien was "caught off guard," but he wasn't dead right then,** ' Zangetsu explained.

'Oh yeah! I remember seeing that! That was a really sad story to hear,' Benihime commented.

' _ **The Hollow is right. Judging by the account you heard from Kuchiki Rukia, logic would dictate that we are able to prevent Shiba Kaien's death. All we would need to do is make him privy to such Hollows and bolster his strength and Reiatsu,**_ ' Hōgyoku explained.

'Hmm... you're right. Plus, I always wanted to meet Kaien after we invaded the Seireitei, though this isn't what I had in mind. But it will have to do,' Ichigo decided.

' _I find it strange,_ ' Old Man Zangetsu commented.

'Find what strange?'

' _It is odd that the Hollow was able to come up with a reasonable explanation,_ ' he answered.

' **What'd you say to me, you old bastard?!** ' Zangetsu shouted.

'I completely agree!' Benihime commented, putting on her face an expression too sweet to mean any good.

' **What? You wanna fight, bitch?!** ' Zangetsu snarled.

'You guys are right. That _is_ weird,' Ichigo played along, smirking mentally.

' **Ooh-hoohoohoo. King, you _bastard_** **! What're you agreeing with them for?** ' Zangetsu cursed.

' _ **I too found it strange. Logically, all Hollows, except for Arrancar, should have the reasoning power of a beast, and the less powerful Hollows should have the same level of intelligence,**_ ' Hōgyoku reasoned, her stoic face portraying no emotions.

' **Aww, come on! Not you too! You're the least crazy one here!** ' Zangetsu complained.

Ichigo was pretty sure a vein popped on Benihime's arm and forehead. 'You're dead, you white freak!' she screamed, tackling him. While they were having a comical fight, Kaien's voice brought Ichigo back to reality.

"Hey, I asked you whether you wanted to stay! Is it yes or-"

"Sorry, my Zanpakutō spirits just reminded me of something. I had to stay out here anyway. If I don't hone my powers, I'd be useless when I got back to the Gotei 13. So, yeah, I'll take you up on that offer," Ichigo interrupted him.

Kaien smiled. "Well, then, come on in! I was just about to have dinner with my siblings. You should eat with us!"

Ichigo smiled in reply. "Sounds like a good idea."

* * *

At the same time, Captain Unohana had started taking a look at the strange Reiryoku her lieutenant had collected. She had sat down at the chair at her desk, examining it using a special technique she had developed. It uses the same methods as talking to one's Zanpakutō spirit within the inner world for Shikai training and applies them to Reiryoku she has pulled into her inner world. It allowed her to 'jump inside' any Spirit Energy as if it was a room of some sort. The only part of the manifestation beyond her control was how the energy appeared when it manifested itself; everything else was simply contributing to what was basically a visual version of 'notes'. It displayed abnormalities differently than how it displayed regularities, and both were always displayed differently between people. She was currently within a room in her inner world, looking at this sample. The room itself looked more like the main room of some sort of ancient temple. Old limestone bricks made up the walls, ceiling, and floor, along with the intricate carvings within.

It seemed this Spirit Energy manifested as orbs of different colors. Now, typically, there'd only be one of whatever the Reiryoku manifested as. If it manifested as arcs of lightning shooting throughout the room, there'd be only one at a time. If it manifested as hearts and teddy bears, there'd probably be one of either, but not two.

This particular sample, however...

She may not have been a scientist, but she could at least tell when something was wrong with someone. Not to mean 'wrong compared to what I think' but, instead, 'wrong compared to the surroundings'. And yet, this Reiatsu may not have directly indicated that something was 'wrong' with its owner, per se, but it was strange in its own right. It seemed to reach to three distinct types of spiritual beings, all of which she had had experience with and personally felt their Reiatsu. On one hand, she could detect that this being was a definitely a Soul Reaper, or at least had Soul Reaper powers. There was the 'presence' of the ability to purify Hollows of their post-mortem sins in each Soul Reaper she's ever examined, and it was present here. However, this only seemed to be the surface or foundation, because as she examined the sample harder with her Spiritual Sense and her sight and hearing, she found Reiatsu that strongly resembled a Hollow's. It seemed to be drastically different from the Soul Reaper portion of it. While the Soul Reaper portion was calm and unwavering, this part of it seemed to be clinically insane (as per the norm for regular Hollows). If she were to draw too close to it, she would feel a shock that was something like being slapped in the face with spiked knuckles, and yet it seemed to be working in tandem with the Soul Reaper part. The mad flailing black-outlined-red sphere she saw never disturbed the calm-black one with its flailing, no matter how spontaneously it had seemed to be moving.

The third sphere on the other side of the black one complicated things even further.

She recognized it right away, but it still shocked her. This was the Reiatsu of a Quincy. She had remembered it from rather recently, which was when the Gotei 13 met again with the Quincies not 2 weeks ago (they were chased away after the request of the Gotei 13 was denied; she was pretty sure it would escalate to exterminating them at some point). How this was here, she didn't know, but it appeared to be normal for that Soul Reaper, since she could tell it wasn't just stolen or something (in which case, the manifestations would seem to try to kill each other). It was calm energy. Unlike its Hollow counterpart's crazy flailing, this one seemed to have a slight pull to it, almost like it was going to pull you in and kill you if you weren't strong enough. She could resist such a pull, at least, but it still surprised her. Almost as much as the fact that these two parts, Hollow and Quincy, didn't conflict with each other, either. With all its mad flailing, Hollow never lashed out at Soul Reaper or Quincy. It felt more like the Hollow and Quincy parts were strongly connected, as displayed by a bright chain of light that was black-outlined-purple. What's more, both orbs were connected to the Soul Reaper orb by the same type of chain.

But the weirdest part was the Soul Reaper part.

To be more precise, there were several pieces of Reiryoku that were different from the mysterious owner of this energy. When she tapped on the orb, which was her technique for looking inside someone's Soul Reaper powers to see if there was anything wrong with them, she was surprised to find 3 different orbs where there should have only been one, the Reiatsu of the person's Zanpakutō spirit. She felt the Reiatsu of the Head-Captain from one of them, which surprised her a fair amount. One orb was a solid black, which must have definitely been this person's Zanpakutō spirit. And yet, the other two orbs felt similar. One was a swirling orb that was red and black, which felt different yet still felt like the first one did. The other orb was swirling three colors: red, black, and orange. This one was only a slight variation, but it did indeed possess the Reiatsu of the Head Captain, along with the first two. What would this mean? How did this person get a hold of the Head Captain's Spirit Energy without having met him? And did this manifesting of multiple orbs mean that this stranger had _multiple_ variations of one Zanpakutō spirit in his inner world?

She had absolutely no idea. This had never been encountered before...

Of course, she had no explanation for the presence of the Head Captain's Reiatsu. A shining caught her eye. Looking at the double-swirl orb, she noticed something new happening next to it. Red energy was swirling, forming a larger and larger sphere, until the growth stopped. She examined this particular orb. It seemed to be the same in structure as the others, with one difference: a purple Reiatsu. It felt... _familiar_ to her, which sort of surprised her. Upon closer examination, she instantly recognized it.

This new orb contained the Reiatsu of the new Squad 8 Captain, Kyōraku Shunsui.

This startling information made her lose her concentration in her surprise and she was pulled out of her inner world's 'examining room,' if you will. Still thinking about how this could be possible, sitting in her chair, she was alerted by a knock at the shogi door.

"Captain! Lieutenant Kotetsu Isane reporting!" the figure informed her.

Rubbing her eyes in frustration (and possibly fatigue?), she called back tiredly, "Come in."

The tall woman opened the door and stepped inside. "Captain, most of the injured Soul Reapers we've accepted since this morning have all received proper medical treatment for their injuries and have been sent back to their squads," she reported.

Unohana looked at her without interest. "That's great, Lieutenant Isane," she drawled tiredly, putting her hand on her face.

Isane certainly noticed this. "Captain? Is something wrong?" she asked, concern in her voice.

Unohana hesitated. "No, nothing's wrong," she said boredly, dismissing her lieutenant's concerned looks.

Isane waited a second before she responded. "...Well, if you say so, Captain Unohana." She then fidgeted visibly.

"Is something else the matter, Lieutenant Isane?" Unohana asked.

"Well... I was just wondering, how is that investigation going? Have you already observed the sample I got for you?" she sighed before changing the subject.

"Yes. It's rather... interesting," Unohana answered vaguely.

"How so?" asked the lieutenant, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Well, it appears to be an odd mix of things, actually. Aside from being heavy, the most odd piece of this puzzle I've uncovered so far is the fact that this stranger somehow has the Head Captain's Reiatsu within them, and I've never felt this person's presence before. It appears this person also possesses the Reiatsu of Captain Kyōraku. These facts are out there, but I don't know what to make of them. It's quite a puzzle," she explained.

"Really? Do you suppose the Head Captain has met this person before?" Isane asked, shocked.

"No. He said he didn't know who or what caused this, but he knew it was only one person. That's why we only grabbed one sample," Unohana answered.

"Wow. One person made such a big crater... Shouldn't we go report this to the Head Captain?" Isane asked, keeping the conversation going.

"Not yet. I still need time to examine the sample. I'm still trying to figure out _why_ this person has the Spirit Energy of two Captains within his own," Unohana answered.

"Perhaps he _thinks_ he knows them? Like, he met them once and thought he knew them really well?" Isane suggested.

"Hmm... could be. It has been noted to be possible to 'hold on' to someone's Reiatsu through some sort of attachment, but it would only be a miniscule amount, not nearly enough to be a Zanpakutō spirit," Unohana refuted.

"Wait, what's this about a Zanpakutō spirit?" Isane asked, confused.

"From this Reiatsu sample, I found that both the Head Captain's and Shunsui's Reiatsu were parts of Zanpakutō spirits somehow. Also, it appears that the sample is somehow still connected to its wielder. Otherwise, it wouldn't have changed at all while I was looking, but Kyōraku's Reiatsu appeared half an hour into my investigation. Perhaps I need to explore the capabilities of this method of examination more," Unohana reasoned.

"R-Really? This person could be seriously dangerous if that's true..." Isane worried.

"I suppose we can only hope that this person will not attempt to do anything rash with that power. I will keep investigating," Unohana reasoned.

"Yeah, I guess... anyway, see you later, Captain," Isane waved goodbye.

"Take care," Unohana waved back.

The minute her new lieutenant was gone, her face adopted a pensive look.

* * *

The dinner went fairly well, considering they were Ichigo's biological family in a time where he wasn't supposed to exist...

Anyway, Kaien had shown interest in becoming a Soul Reaper.

...Okay, saying he 'showed interest' is like saying 'the Soul Society is big'. He kept asking Ichigo questions about what being a Soul Reaper is like. Not the traditional 'is it hard' kind of questions, but the 'what would I need to do' kinds of questions. Throughout the dinner, Kaien learned a lot of things (at the expense of his puking brother Ganju) and, by the end of the meal, he was running up to his bedroom, trying to make the day go by faster by sleeping (hey, it wouldn't feel like he was waiting if he was out cold) because Ichigo told him he could start practicing to become a Soul Reaper in the morning, which Koganehiko agreed with.

Ichigo, meanwhile, still had to check on Harribel and the others (Ichigo still had to make sure they at least understood why they couldn't go back to Hueco Mundo just yet). After Kaien had stopped bugging him and he finished the brownie Kogaheniko had offered him for getting Kaien to go to sleep, Ichigo had gone up to his room, shut the door, and sat on the floor, meditating to once again return to his inner world.

...Which was filled with sounds of swords clashing and shouts of effort when he got there.

He opened his eye and noticed that each of his Zanpakutō spirits were occupied with clashing against one of the new Arrancar. Benihime had taken to fighting Sun-Sun (and the latter was losing her temper from being out-teased), Hōgyoku was calmly clashing with Mila Rose (who was losing her temper from not being able to tease her opponent), Old Man Zangetsu was up against Apache (who was losing her temper like usual), and Harribel was in a battle with the pale Zangetsu (who was losing _his_ temper because she was hardly trying to attack him). He sat down cross-legged and watched while they battled, having nothing else to do (he had no body in the World of the Living yet). Seeing the rather fast dances of blades and hearing the fighters trade insults and wisecracks (or, in Harribel's case, nothing but silence) reminded him of his rather tumultuous past.

The Century War had not been kind (and he protested when Urahara gave such a cruddy name to such a grueling war). Some of it was guerrilla warfare between Aizen and the entire Gotei 13 (after all, he was trying to build his strength). Aizen had managed to out-think all of them for too long. By the time Squad 12 had found him, he was already bringing down doomsday on the Seireitei.

And 'doomsday' was a giant meteor of Sekkiseki stone wider in diameter than all 80 Rukongai districts _and_ Seireitei combined (and Kurotsuchi just _had_ to figure out how to save his own labs first). It was unbearable to comprehend that the Earth would be destroyed by a crazy S.O.B. who tried to be a god and took 'arrogant' to the level of godhood, ironically.

It was worse the second time around, and more so when Aizen personally wrecked Karakura before bringing extinction down through the other side of the planet.

"Kurosaki Ichigo!"

That snapped him out of his reminiscing. He focused his eye and saw the Arrancars standing over him. Harribel was stoic while the others looked like they usually did (scowling).

"Yeah?" he asked. Then Zangetsu punched him in the chest.

" **Quit mopin' about _that_ already! It's in the past, you idiot!**" he scolded, teeth clenched.

"I wasn't moping," Ichigo denied blankly.

"Well, whatever you were doing, you made it start raining!" Apache accused.

Ichigo felt like an idiot for only just noticing when the rain fell on him, looking down on his hand. Then he looked back up at them. "So? You can keep fighting in the rain, you know," Ichigo argued.

"It wasn't _us_ that stopped fighting. _They_ wouldn't fight us when the rain started," Sun-Sun corrected, one sleeve over her mouth and another pointed in the direction of the Zanpakutō spirits, who were behind the Arrancars. Benihime looked concerned, Hōgyoku had her back to him, Old Man Zangetsu was frowning, and Zangetsu was _mad_. Like, the why-the-hell-did-you-do-that-you-sonuva-bastard mad.

"Oh." Ichigo didn't bother to say any more and the group just sat/stood in silence.

Finally, after a moment, Apache growled and shouted, "Oh come on! They just spilled the beans that you were from the future or some shit like that! Aren't you going to tell us anything?!"

"We _are_ your guests, after all," Sun-Sun chimed in.

"Yeah, you crazy time traveler!" Mila Rose added for some reason.

"Girls! You do remember that we are in _his_ territory? Don't ask him something he obviously doesn't want revealed!" Harribel harshly reminded them.

Ichigo spoke up, "No, it's okay. It's not like I have a choice anyway."

Harribel and her subordinates looked at him. He motioned for them to sit. After cushions appeared (yes, this was something he had picked up in his afterlife!), the group sat down save for Old Man Zangetsu, who was standing on a flagpole (why he chose a flagpole, Ichigo had absolutely no idea; I don't get it either).

And that's when he started recounting the terrible future he lived (yes, that's probably right). This tale was supported by the images that were his memories, replaying on the window in the center of the group, which was now a semi-circle. The Arrancars looked between Ichigo and the window during the story.

After such a tale, none of the Arrancars spoke. Harribel adopted a pensive expression, Apache was looking away, trying to save her pride, Sun-Sun was looking down, her sleeve still covering her mouth, and Mila Rose was gripping her elbows, looking away from Ichigo. None of the Zanpakutō spirits reacted to hearing a second-hand account except for Benihime, who merely frowned with Old Man Zangetsu (he usually seems to be frowning anyway, so him frowning doesn't count).

"That was... incredibly tragic," Harribel finally commented.

"How the hell are you not already insane?!" Apache commented, no longer fiery and loud, just _shocked_ beyond belief.

"And why aren't you mad? Didn't you say you were going to kill that bastard Aizen?" Mila Rose added condescendingly.

"I couldn't be weak and say what obviously needed to be done. Otherwise, neither of my wives would've been able to stand being near me, much less my other friends. I wouldn't have been able to keep the anger and sadness from showing," Ichigo answered calmly.

"He was going to cut down Harribel-sama..." Sun-Sun was the only one who sounded sad in any way.

"Well, I'm going to fix that. I'm going to take the Hōgyoku from him so he can't become immortal. I'm going to kill him so he cannot do such horrible things. I wanted to stop him without killing at first, but I've learned that Aizen only gets worse once he fuses with the Hōgyoku," Ichigo answered.

" **You mean _we're_ gonna kill him! I can't _stand_ that bastard! He made me and then left me for dead because he was done with me! He thought my life belonged to him just because he made me! Well, he's not going to live to regret that mistake! I'm gonna get the last laugh! I'm gonna kill him, then I'm going to let _him_ burn away and let _him_ see how it feels to be trash!**" Zangetsu raged.

" _ **One of m**_ _ **y creators locked me away, then my old master abused my ability until he proved himself unworthy of it by killing himself and leaving his world to stagnate to death. Even if I don't care about the world, I will see to it that I survive with it. And, by association, that includes Kurosaki Ichigo,**_ " Hōgyoku stated factually, with an undertone of anger in her voice.

" _Even I must agree that Aizen is to be dealt with harshly. While I do believe there might have been a good person within him at some point in this past, I have seen what he is capable of and that he has the drive to do such foul deeds. I shall protect Ichigo, along with my fellow inner spirits, so that Ichigo may live, as he has once let me live before when he could have easily dismissed me from his life forever,_ " Old Man Zangetsu chimed in.

"Everyone..." After being slightly startled, he muttered a low "thanks". He was looking away to try to muffle his gratitude.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

His head slowly turned to face Harribel. "Huh? What is it?" he asked blankly.

Harribel closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "We will aid you in destroying this 'Aizen Sōsuke,'" she announced.

"Eh?" -her would've-been Fracciónes.

"Huh? Why?" Ichigo asked.

"For one, I believe your story completely and wish to change our fates. The proof is all around us. Secondly, this Aizen was eventually going to destroy the universe, and I would much rather my subordinates and I were not destroyed with it. Third, we will not be killed in here; it's only logical to stay if we can. Lastly, you interest me," Harribel explained.

"I do?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Yes. You had so little even when this long war was over. I believe you only had that man- Urahara Kisuke- and his friend. They were your only fellow survivors. Yet, you chose to come all the way back here, essentially giving up what little you had to save what belongs to everyone that was destroyed. Why?" Harribel asked.

Ichigo thought for a moment, adopting a pensive expression and choosing his words carefully. After another moment, he answered.

"My goal is to protect those close to my heart. Even if they will never know me as well as during the war ever again, they still hold that position. Even if the same people in this timeline don't know me, I still owe it to those people I have lost. I had already thought through my decision before coming back. It wasn't even a choice, and I don't regret it."

Everyone stared at him like he had just made the speech of the century (or was it 'of the next three centuries'?). The Arrancars stared at him for a long time, seemingly trying to find fault with his logic or to find a way to convince Harribel otherwise, but they didn't say a word. His Zanpakutō spirits just looked at him in admiration/pride. It was Zangetsu who spoke after a moment, smiling wide (it would have appeared creepy if he hadn't creased his brow a little, so he did).

" **Whatever, King. One way or the other, we're gonna kick Aizen's ass!** "

Ichigo smiled at him fondly. "Yeah," he affirmed, "we will."

After that, he was lifted from his inner world by his own will. Standing up, he looked outside, noting that it was now completely dark. He stared at the full moon for a little while before falling onto the bed, not even bothering to fall so that his head was at the pillow.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo, there was a meeting of a court of Hollows, all Adjuchas-class. They were all bowing down. Who were they bowing to?

None other than the 'king' of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan Louisenbairn. Right this moment, he was sitting on his throne, his dark robe 'flowing,' for lack of a better term. His 100% bone head was topped with a shining gold crown. His hands and arms were also skeletal, a sign that he was probably dead.

"How boring."

...Okay, so he's _not_ dead.

I suppose his 'court' would have helped him with his boredom, but they didn't dare do anything without the king's approval. Both rows of Hollows simply remained in their bowing positions.

Suddenly, a figure appeared out of nowhere. The king skeleton looked upward.

"Has Harribel refused again?" he asked calmly.

"No, sir. It appears she's no longer in Hueco Mundo. I patrolled the area around their cave and checked inside. There was no sign that she or her three friends were there," the hammer-headed Hollow responded.

"Hnn," Baraggan grunted. "It appears she has run off through a Garganta. So she has finally taught herself how to make one. Such a technique must be too far above her skill level for her to perform on her Reiatsu alone. I imagine she is currently sitting in the World of the Living with those three, panting and uncomfortable," he mused, putting his bony hand on his chin. Then he removed said hand and said to the hammerhead Hollow, "Go put her out of her misery, Arreglo."

He smirked (or would've if his mask wasn't locked into a creepy grin). "With pleasure, Barragan-sama," he acknowledged.

* * *

*clang*

"You done?"

Ichigo had just pushed little Kaien's sword out of his grasp... again... and shoved him to the ground, sword pointed at his neck. Just to clarify: they had been training for thirty years in sword fighting ever since the week after the Tres Bestias came to Soul Society. Him having a real katana to begin with may have bolstered his progress slightly, but what probably _really_ helped was the fact that Ichigo pounded it into his head that no opponent would go easy, as demonstrated by the brutal beatdown Kaien received each and every match. At this point in every match, Ichigo would say the exact same thing as he did the previous day, sword pointed at him in some would-be-lethal manner, such as right now with the neck. And Kaien was always the same, too; he would scowl at Ichigo (more so if he _almost_ won), then he would reply with...

"No."

...and Ichigo would put his sealed katanas away (one was Zangetsu, blade colored black with an opening in the center, much like Harribel's, along with a ribbon of cloth that wrapped around the blade when sheathed (much like his sheathed Shikai), and one was the blade that used to be Urahara's Benihime, which was no longer the cane sword it was in Urahara's hands, but a longsword with an octagonal guard and a skull-and-dark-flame mark near the tip used to push souls from their bodies, and a plain cherry-wood-color sheath).

This time, Kaien added a whining complaint of, "Aw, man. I almost got you that time!"

Anyway, then (like this day) Kaien would usually leap away so they could start the _next_ part of their daily training regimen (or, rather, _Kaien's_ daily training regimen): Hakuda and Shunpo (Flash Steps). Sure, Ichigo was no master, but he was taught and understood the basic gist of the power aspect of Hakuda: focus your Reiatsu internally and externally into your limbs and swing at the enemy with everything you've got (Hakuda is a martial art, technically), and he understood Shunpo rather well: go a certain distance using as few steps and Reiatsu as possible. Plus, he's had 200 years to perfect his Reiatsu control (granted that less than 100 of those were war-filled, and as such Ichigo didn't train much after the war), with the aid of Tessai (and all he used to do for his job was exactly that: controlling Reiatsu. The usage was different, but the concept was the same), so he's managed to refine his Hakuda to the point where he could make one hit bring an enormous crater into a hill or simply knock an opponent back at least 100 yards without any collateral damage, and his best Shunpo could cross the Seireitei in one step (which he had to train most of those 100 years of the war perfecting). Then, without stopping except to eat or to stop training for the day, they began using karate (hey, Ichigo knew karate, so it was handy to use as the structure for training Kaien in Hakuda), gracefully flipping to get some leverage for their attacks and usually landing either on their feet or their back, where they could roll back, whenever they were knocked back/down. Kaien managed to keep up with Ichigo's form of teaching hand-to-hand combat, for it wasn't _exactly_ like how Ichigo had learned it as a boy; he had added his own I'm-gonna-try-to-kill-you twist on it. They exchanged punches and kicks, neither bruising the other (though, at first, Kaien couldn't even touch him and would get very bruised). The kid wasn't learning Hakuda as fast as he was Zanjutsu (sword fighting), but he now had better reflexes, greater speed, an improving Shunpo, and more power to put behind his arms and legs. He could jump over Ichigo's low sweeping kicks, dodge punches that Ichigo was throwing at eight a second, and Kaien even did that kick people see in movies where they jump and push the opponent with both of their feet and their entire body weight, at the consequence of landing on their back.

Granted, Ichigo never stayed down (and neither did Kaien), so they would always continue, even after such surprises. The way Ichigo taught Kaien to fight was simple; he didn't teach Kaien how to _fight_ , he taught him how to _survive_. He gave a long speech about it that resembled the same one he got from his master and friend, Urahara. In this way, on the first day a week after Ichigo had taken in the Arrancars in his inner world (he had to procure a poorly-made katana to get him used to fighting with even a really bad sword), Ichigo started training him in swordfighting. He could still remember the way he started off teaching Kaien in this very area...

 _Flashback_

 _"Here. Your katana," Ichigo said, handing Kaien a sword that was too big for his little height, one hand on the sheath, the other on his own sealed Zangetsu, the cloth already falling off and shrinking to effectively "unsheathe" his katana. He had turned around and started walking a few yards away. Kaien looked, confused, from his new katana to Ichigo a couple of times. They were standing on a grass area some ways away from the Shibas' house, in a clearing in the forest._

 _"Huh? I thought you were training me?" he asked, a confused look on his face._

 _Ichigo stopped moving and turned around, having arrived at the distance he wanted to be at. "I am," he replied simply._

 _Kaien looked more confused now. "Huh? Why are you all the way over there? Don't you have any instructions or tips for me like a teacher would?" he asked._

 _Ichigo got into a ready neutral stance, holding his sealed blade at the center of his waist with both hands. "Yeah: don't die," he said simply._

 _Before Ichigo started charging, Kaien looked surprised_ and _confused. "Huh?!"_

 _Then Ichigo ran right in front of him, slashing downward. Granted it was far slower than Ichigo was capable of, but Kaien was only a beginner. It took Kaien a little over a complete second to bring the sword up and block with both hands supporting his blade. Even with this being done, Kaien still slid back a meter or so, in which time Ichigo simply watched him._

 _Kaien was bolting away from him._

 _Ichigo sighed. "Well, I guess he's only a beginner..." he reminded himself before running after the kid._

 _Now, back to the present..._

And, from that day onward, Kaien got used to (and maybe dreaded) his lessons with Ichigo (wherein said teacher was trying to kill him). Eventually, Kaien fought with resolve, not fear (the same order Ichigo had fought with all those years ago), and fought back. He may not have gotten an Asauchi yet, but he was definitely on the way to learning how to fight with a sword, at least. He could now hold his own against Ichigo, who was not holding back as much in this match. Halfway between then and now, Ichigo started instructing Kaien on the basics of Kidō, Shunpo, and Hakuda (and he only said one sentence before Kaien understood the basics of both, and only trained him in these one day until he could use them at a beginner level), and he integrated using Shunpo and Kidō into both the Hakuda training and the Zanjutsu training.

Anyway, while I was giving background, the fight progressed such that it was nearing its end.

Both Ichigo and Kaien threw a Hakuda punch and aimed for the gut, both hitting their targets. Pausing for a second, Kaien quickly withdrew his fist, jumped, and attempted to smash his fist into Ichigo's cheek. Ichigo, however, had jumped high enough to dodge the fist, flipped in midair, and brought a foot down on Kaien's back, which was angled perpendicular to the ground. Therefore, Kaien went flying behind Ichigo into the ground a few yards away, faceplanting into the grass. After a moment, he pushed off the ground and his head came popping out of the dirt.

"Let's call that a day, Kaien. You're doing well. Nice job," Ichigo praised.

"I know! And I'm doing better in Zanjutsu too! Even though that katana was made terribly, I can still go toe to toe with you!" Kaien said excitedly.

"Don't forget your endurance. I don't let you rest in between switches so you can build up endurance. That will be important when you have an enemy who _wants_ to kill you and isn't just _trying_ to kill you," Ichigo reminded him.

"Yeah, that too!" Kaien said excitedly, smiling as he went over to pick up his katana, lying in the grass. Once he picked it up and turned around, though, his face was serious all of a sudden.

"Huh? Kaien, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"Well... for the past month, I've been having a strange dream every night. I was in this giant cave with glowing walls and shiny crystals. I saw this weirdly-dressed lady standing on the water and she was talking to me as if I knew her," Kaien explained.

"Weird dream, huh? What happened next? Do you remember?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah. She said she wanted to protect me so that I wouldn't feel sad. I said I didn't even know her, but she said I did. When I asked her what her name was, she said, 'My name is,' but I couldn't hear the rest very well. I think she might have said 'Nejibana,' but I'm not sure," Kaien recounted.

"I see. Well, don't worry. I don't think it can be a bad thing, if that's what you're thinking. Go to the house and get some sleep. I'll get something special ready for tomorrow," Ichigo reassured him.

"O-Okay!" Kaien agreed, one second serious, the next, happy. The boy turned around and ran off into the dark forest (they weren't so far that it was impossible to know the way back without daylight). Ichigo stared at the sky. It was night now, but he only noticed when they stopped training. He was staring at the moon.

"Ichigo."

Ichigo turned his head to see Benihime, manifested with a serious expression.

"Oh, Benihime. What's up?" he asked.

"Kaien..." she started.

"Yeah, I know. Looks like there's only one choice..." -he looked in the direction of the center of Soul Society- "...We're gonna have to sneak into the Seireitei."

* * *

Ichigo had just Flash Stepped across 56 of the Rukon Districts with his decades-improved Shunpo, with which he was travelling through one or two districts per step. Considering how big each district is, this is very fast.

He was now standing outside of the massive city of the Seireitei, the wall suspended in midair above the city. He looked up and examined it, his Zanpakutō spirits manifesting next to him.

" **What are we waitin' for? It's right there, King; what's the hold-up?** " Zangetsu asked impatiently, receiving a heel to the head (Benihime was wearing high heels) for his impatience. " **Ow! What the hell was that for, you bloody-mop head?!** " he shouted.

"Shut up. You're too loud," Benihime commanded, "and, in case you forgot, it would be a good idea to make sure none of the Soul Reapers see Ichigo's face. Otherwise, he might make things more difficult later on."

" **Oh, come on! I have an easy fix for _that_!** " Zangetsu whined, somewhat hurt.

"Huh? You do? What is it?" Ichigo asked.

" **This,** " Zangetsu responded, smirking like usual while putting his palm right in front of Ichigo's face. A surge of black  
Reiatsu formed in front of his hand and spread out. When it disappeared, it left a familiar white mask with two red stripes placed vertically over where his eyes were. Said eyes changed from brown and white to golden and black (respectively). In addition, his hair seemed to 'explode' a little, becoming long and white yet maintaining its spikiness. Ichigo felt his face after his Hollow was done.

" **The mask? Isn't this going to make it harder to sneak around undetected?** " Ichigo asked, his voice double-layered.

" **Not the way I did it. I simply put a mask there and changed yer hair a little. Unlike before, there ain't no power boost. This is a good idea, don't you agree?** " Zangetsu explained.

" **Yeah. Thanks. This'll work** ," Ichigo said, undoing their manifestation and dashing into the un-walled Seireitei.

In one Flash Step, he landed on top of the nearby Squad 4 Barracks. Pausing to think, he decided that he needed to get to his destination as fast as possible. So he did. Jumping with both his Reiatsu and Reiryoku channeled around his feet, he made a path of Reishi midair and rode it to his destination: the Senzaikyū, the center of the Seireitei.

* * *

Unohana wasn't asleep. She was up doing paperwork for the Soul Reapers that had recovered that day from their injuries enough to return to their squads. She was quietly signing her name for the medical release of some Soul Reaper- they all become nameless after doing nothing significant or not being a captain or other important figure- when she heard a noise on the roof, which she just so happened to be the closest to of any in her squad except for her lieutenant. It was a slight creaking noise, but it was more than just a bird or the wind could do; this she knew with certainty. So, standing up with a start, she ran out the door to her office, down the hallway to the balcony, and jumped on the roof. She looked around, but, by then, whatever had made the sound was long gone. She walked around the roof, looking through the night sky for any sign of it- for she had no idea who this was. Just as she was about to give up, she noticed something odd about the slight dent in the roof which she had missed earlier (she saw the dent before, not this 'something odd'; she's not stupid) and walked over to examine it. Well, to be more specific, to examine this Reiryoku that just 'appeared' on her roof. She knelt over it and touched it, and doing so only confirmed her suspicions.

The mystery Soul Reaper that had been puzzling her ever since thirty years ago must have been here; she would recognize that Spiritual Pressure anywhere.

Stunned by this for a second, she then regained her wits, stood up, and concentrated, trying to find a sign of where the unidentified Reiatsu went. Finding a match, she closed a fist before gently opening it, releasing two Hell Butterflies. Then, without a moment's delay, she vanished in a Flash Step, following the stranger.

 **In the Head Captain's office...**

Yamamoto was not particularly busy. He was just standing out on the balcony, staring at the moon and drinking his tea. Sure, the moon isn't particularly interesting, but he wasn't thinking of _that_ right now. He was thinking of the day he went to visit the Academy, a week ago. In truth, nothing was _terrible_ about it; it seemed that the accelerated program had many distinguished students. However, he had asked for far more names of those outside the accelerated program and he remembered only one of the many names:

Hirako Shinji.

The kid seemed to be a natural at everything and yet didn't get into the accelerated program; he defeated a far bigger fellow sixth-year student who was in the accelerated program in a sword duel, he managed to fire off a Shakkahō without incantation and it still destroyed a target, and he managed to outpace all his friends with Shunpo, and all his friends were in the top class.

Yamamoto shook his head. After all, it didn't matter whether or not he was in a good class; if he graduated, he would probably be guaranteed a position on one of the squads.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by the jingling of a Hell Butterfly. He let it perch on his finger and heard the message, which seemed to be personalized for him.

 _Head Captain, the mysterious Soul Reaper from thirty years ago is inside the Seireitei, the one who made the crater. I have analyzed his Reiatsu from the roof of my squad's barracks and confirmed this. He seems to be heading towards the Senzaikyū. It appears he is fast enough to get to the Senzaikyū in less than two Flash Steps from my barracks. I am headed there now, and I have also alerted Captain Shihōin of Squad 2. We will be waiting there to discuss what to do next._

Yamamoto sighed. He certainly remembered 'the one who made the crater,' despite having not even seen the person's face. He had asked the two captains to keep it between the three of them, and if they were to discuss any new developments, they were to do so in a private setting, such as underneath Sōkyoku Hill in the 'secret' training area Shoka's daughter and her friend were making. Evidently, this Soul Reaper, whomever he was, now possessed his own Reiatsu and the Reiatsu of Captains Unohana, Kyoraku, and Ukitake, as well as many that he did not recognize but, according to Captain Unohana, were powerful in their own right. This, at the very least, brought up many questions. One, however, was more of a to-be-continued kind of question, one that wouldn't receive its answer for an unknown amount of time.

"Just who is this stranger affiliated with?"

And, after wondering aloud, he disappeared with a Flash Step.

 **In the Shihōin Crest Room, Squad 2 barracks...**

"Yoruichi-chan, something came up. I have to go, sweetie," Shoka told her daughter firmly.

"Awww. Can't I stay up a _little_ longer?" the child whined.

"Nope. If you do, you'll grow too old too fast," Shoka responded.

Grumbling, the little Yoruichi grudgingly walked to the hallway, where a retainer was waiting to escort her to her room.

Shoka hesitated for a moment, wondering.

 _The Senzaikyū, huh? What's this mystery person want there? There's nobody being held in there right now, as far as I can remember... Oh, well. I guess I'll find out. But hey, maybe this 'mystery Soul Reaper' is actually a handsome man... and hopefully a better guy than my ex..._

Smiling at her silent musings (and the image said musings formed in her head), she walked over to the window and Flash Stepped out of the room.

 **Outside the Senzaikyū...**

Ichigo landed on Sōkyoku Hill with his absurdly fast hybrid speed technique, right in front of the Sōkyoku itself. Rather than go directly towards his destination, he decided to loiter and reminisce. Turning around to face the Sōkyoku, he could visualize himself as he was as a 15-year-old Substitute Soul Reaper who was also a Ryoka. He had gotten that cape from Yoruichi that allowed him to move around in the air without consciously doing so or even _knowing_ how to consciously do so. They had released the Sōkyoku, a halberd so powerful as to be believed to be as powerful as one million Zanpakutō, and the giant phoenix form it took had dove in for the kill (well, the _execution_ , to be precise) towards Rukia, who had been held to the giant wooden Arbor that was supposedly impossible to destroy... yet he had blocked the first without any visible effort and destroyed the second like it was nothing. Not to mention, he had then gone on to handle three lieutenants after lodging his sword in the rock in a record of maybe four seconds before picking up his sword. Then he had turned around and he stared down Kuchiki Byakuya, the one man he had fought and couldn't defeat quite yet until then. The only thing he hadn't managed to accomplish that day was to cut off Aizen's head.

Looking back on it now, even though he couldn't do that one thing, he knew he had plenty of reason to be proud of being such a powerful Soul Reaper, even back then, and of growing so much in his life and afterlife.

 _Hnn... fat lot of good_ that _did me..._

His musings were interrupted by the arrival of three familiar Soul Reapers (two more so than the third). Looking around, he saw that they surrounded him in a triangle, each at the ready with their hands on the hilts of their Zanpakutō (or the cane, in Yamamoto's case). He examined them in the long silence that followed, until Yamamoto spoke.

"Are you the one who arrived in Rukon District 58 thirty years ago and recklessly released his Reiatsu?" asked the old man.

" **Well, I wasn't counting which district it was, but I did make that crater... sorry about that,** " Ichigo told them, his face a passive mask (under his mask).

"Is that... a Hollow mask?" Shoka asked, surprised.

" **Yeah,** " the boy answered.

"Where did you get that?" Shoka asked again.

" **My Zanpakutō spirit is a Hollow. He made this for me so that it didn't boost my power like it usually does,** " Ichigo explained.

"My, my, you're just full of surprises," Shoka smirked, not moving one bit.

"Why are you here, Ryoka?" Yamamoto asked impartially, not portraying any emotion.

" **Heh... that title takes me back. I was just running an errand, but I got caught up in reminiscing,** " Ichigo mused.

"'Errand'?" Yamamoto asked passively.

"'Reminiscing'?" Unohana wondered aloud.

" **I needed to get my student an Asauchi, and the only place I can logically get one by asking is up there** ," Ichigo clarified, pointing straight up.

"Up there?" Captain Shihoin asked.

Ichigo turned his head to her for a second, examining her, something she caught onto, before turning back to the Head Captain, who asked him another question.

"What makes you believe you can get an Asauchi from the sky?" Yamamoto asked.

" **Heh. So that's you're playing it. Well, you should probably know that I'm not your enemy, and you are not mine. And to answer your question... watch what I do and judge for yourself.** "

With that, Ichigo tensed up before vanishing, leaving a small crater in the rock. The captains' eyes widened in surprise before they looked around to see if they could locate the boy with white hair who had just disappeared right before their eyes.

" **I'm up here,** " the boy called, and they looked up just in time to see him fly up into the night.

"He's fast!" Unohana remarked.

"That's-" Yamamoto started, surprised but not moving nor portraying it.

Ichigo flew up into the sky for another second before stopping. Facing upward, he stuck his rigid hand, glowing with Reiatsu, into the air, making it disappear.

" **Unlock,** " he commanded, twisting his wrist. Then a big hole opened up in the air, a circle outlined with blue and leading into seemingly more darkness that made the night pale in comparison. A moment passed where Shoka was standing there with her mouth agape and Unohana with her eyes wide, while Yamamoto had fully opened his. Then the boy flew in after a moment, vanishing into the darkness that vanished into the night. The air was peaceful again, but it did nothing to calm the two captains who had no idea what they just saw. Finally, someone spoke.

"Holy... What just happened?" Shoka asked.

"That young man... he possesses the ability to enter the Soul King's Realm..." Yamamoto looked up to the sky for another moment in silence before looking back to his two stunned captains down at his eye level. "Captain Unohana, Captain Shihōin... you are to swear on your captaincy of the Gotei 13 not to say anything about what you have witnessed here tonight."

The latter looked down to him now. "What? It's _that_ important we keep it a secret?!" she asked, stunned.

"Correct. You are not to say a word of this to anyone outside of the three of us. Your lieutenants aren't to know, your fellow captains are to remain ignorant of this incident, and your Noble friends, Captain Shihōin, are not to hear of it at all. Violation of this vow will see you exiled from the Seireitei for 1,000 years, and to at least Rukon District 75. Do I make myself clear?" Yamamoto elaborated firmly.

Surprise lingered on their faces for another minute before they tensed and expressed seriousness of urgency and nodding in affirmation as they verbally agreed.

"I vow this on my Captaincy to the Gotei 13, Head Captain Yamamoto. Although, I've already talked a little about the mysterious Reiatsu with my Lieutenant," Unohana swore solemnly.

"Then she must agree to these terms as well; I shall summon her in the morning," Yamamoto compromised.

"I agree with these terms, Head Captain," Shoka chimed in.

"Good. Also, you are not to alert the gate guards to this intrusion nor are you to pursue him. He is too strong for you to handle. We shall not provoke him if he says he is not our enemy," Yamamoto added.

"Yes, Head Captain," both captains answered.

"Dismissed," Yamamoto finished, disappearing from Sōkyoku Hill with Shunpo.

* * *

Ichigo, meanwhile, had just passed into the Soul King's Realm after crossing the many layers of barriers. Looking up from his spot of arrival, he saw the big palace near the bottom of the gargantuan sphere that was the Soul King's Realm, the giant floating capsule-like tower which he knew to be the palace of the Soul King himself, and, around that, five floating discs he knew to be the homes of the Royal Guard.

Then, reaching out with his Spiritual Sense to find out which palace was which from his view, he noticed something odd. His spirits manifested next to him.

" **You can probably take that off now, King,** " Zangetsu noted sarcastically.

" **I know that, whitey** **,** " Ichigo shot back before putting a hand to his face to take off the mask, his hair and eye returning to normal.

"Hey, one of those floating cities is empty..." Benihime noted.

"Yeah. Not sure why. Now that you mention that, I don't sense Hikifune-san anywhere here either," Ichigo added, looking around.

" _ **It is possible that Hikifune Kirio has not been posted to the Royal Guard yet in this timeline. However, that would not explain the existence of an empty fifth floating city,**_ " Hogyoku reminded them.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that could be it," Ichigo reasoned.

" _We must hurry. We do not have much time to be gazing around if we are to ask that man for an Asauchi while also earning his trust enough to do so,_ " Old Man Zangetsu reminded them.

"Yeah, I got it, Old Man," Ichigo stated offhandedly, de-manifesting his spirits before reaching out with his Spiritual Sense, closing his eyes and focusing. He found the one he was looking for and took off towards that particular floating island.

 **Moments later...**

Nimaiya Ōetsu was sleeping moments ago before that foreign Reiatsu entered the Soul King's Realm. It woke him up, roused his lovely assistants, and probably woke up the other three members of the Royal Guard. After all, it was a presence strong enough to wake him up from across the Soul King's Realm; it was likely to do the same to the others. Not only that, but it appeared to be coming for his palace specifically, so he quickly got ready to meet this 'presence', this time being serious as opposed to his usual self. Now, clothed in his usual attire, he Flash Stepped to the eastern side of his floating city, waiting on the lawn at the edge for it to arrive. He didn't have to wait long. Not five seconds after he landed there, he saw with his own eyes the stranger. He had orange hair and an eyepatch over one eye, as well as a Shihakushō that was different from that of the Soul Reapers down below, in the Seireitei. His Shihakushō was sleeveless and there was a leather hood trailing behind him, as well as a black-and-white choker and two sheathed swords at his waist.

Nimaiya moved his hands to his face out of a habit of moving his sunglasses. When he didn't find them, he put his hand back at his side. He clapped his hands twice and the lights right behind him went on to illuminate the entire lawn. The mysterious stranger had just landed on his illuminated lawn. Of course, Nimaiya wasn't smiling like usual. After all, this was an intruder, as far as he knew.

"Yo! Who are you, mysterious stranger?" Nimaiya asked.

"My name is Ichigo. Don't worry, I'm not gonna-"

"How did you get to this place?" Nimaiya interrupted him.

"Oh, I used the Ōken to get into the Soul King's Realm, then I flew here," Ichigo answered calmly.

"You?" Nimaiya asked, skeptical.

"Yeah. Here, you can see it on my ribs." Ichigo indeed pulled his sleeveless Shihakushō apart to show the cracks in his skin which were present on every person to whom the Royal Key was bestowed.

"Oh, I see. So, the Soul King let you in?" Nimaiya asked.

"Apparently. Otherwise, this Ōken would not have worked," Ichigo stated, replacing his Shihakushō the way it was before.

"Have you been appointed to the Royal Guard?" Nimaiya asked.

"Well... it's kinda hard to explain like that..." Ichigo stammered, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Just then, three more figures appeared on the lawn, one after the other. One was wearing a white jacket and sporting a pompadour hairstyle, the second was a large man with a bushy mustache and beard, and the third was a slender lady wearing a haori (overcoat) over her Shihakushō and wearing a robe over that, as well as a radiant-looking headpiece.

"State your name and business, Ryoka," the woman commanded.

"I am Ichigo. I came here to request an Asauchi for my student," he answered.

"Huuuuuuuuh?" the pompadour-man grunted condescendingly. "You? A regular Soul Reaper? Come to ask _us_ for a favor? Are you st-OOOOPFH!"

"Shut up, Tenjirō. It's not so ridiculous that you have to call him stupid," the big guy scolded him.

"Aw, shut it, Ichibē!" Tenjirō shot back.

"How did you get here?" the woman asked in a commanding tone.

"The front door, basically," Ichigo deadpanned.

"Do not take us for fools when you are bound by my thread and can be hurt at any moment," she warned tersely and authoritatively.

Ichigo looked down and noticed that he was indeed restrained by what appeared to be a ball of white thread. "Wow, Senjumaru, I forgot how fast you work," he remarked, amazed.

"How do you know my name?" Senjumaru asked calmly.

"I was just about to tell Nimaiya, but then the three of you showed up. It's a perfect opportunity to tell you right now so I don't have to waste time repeating the same story," Ichigo answered, equally calm.

"Oh? There's a story to how you know my name?" she asked, sounding relatively playful compared to how she sounded asking the previous question.

"Actually, I know all of your names. And I was going to explain why I have the Ōken, but this and that are the same story," Ichigo answered.

"Enlighten us, kid," the big guy commanded, smiling like an idiot.

Ichigo inhaled. "Okay, first off, I traveled back here from really far into the future; at least two centuries. It's useless to try and sugarcoat it to you guys, so there it is. I came back to stop certain events from happening that would lead to even your defeat; not solely those events, though. I arrived thirty years ago fairly close to Shiba Kaien's house. He let me stay with him after I dealt with a few Hollows and he asked me to train him, which is what I've been doing for these thirty years. Just tonight he told me that he heard a lady say her name in a 'dream.' I know from my timeline that the name he said was his Zanpakutō's name because he said the same exact name."

There was a silence, though of what Ichigo couldn't determine. Ichibē was staring at him like he just said he saw a walking pineapple (which Ichigo would have to admit to having seen), Tenjirō was looking at him like he had just told them he had done his math homework (which Ichigo would have to admit was true, if pointless and off-topic), Nimaiya was apparently intrigued, and Senjumaru had nodded passively during the story, her face portraying no emotion or even a hint of surprise.

"So, what was this name you told us he heard?" Ichibe asked, breaking the silence.

"Nejibana. I know it's a hard story to believe, but will you believe me when he grabs the Asauchi and learns his Zanpakutō's name?" Ichigo asked pleadingly.

They seemed pensive for a moment, none of them breaking the silence they had just brought back to the conversation.

Finally, Tenjirō sighed. "Oh, fine. It's not like there would be much choice anyway," he mused.

"Good. Now can you untie me?" Ichigo asked, turning to Senjumaru.

"Hmm... well, maybe if you explain how you have the Ōken, I'll untie you," she said calmly.

"Well, I became a member of the Royal Guard in my lifetime, and apparently the Soul King of now didn't have any qualms with the new Soul King of then letting me into his dimension," Ichigo answered.

"You? But your Reiatsu is not even at a Captain's level! How did _you_ become one of us?" Tenjirō asked, once again condescendingly.

"Well, if you could see my hand, you would notice the complicated seal I had to create just to seal away most of my own power," Ichigo shot back, calmly but clearly annoyed. Senjumaru released both his hands and noticed that there was indeed a seal of some sort on his hand.

"How strong is that seal? Your Zanpakutō don't like being cooped up like that, yo!" Nimaiya asked.

"It limits over 99 percent of my power, and now I am subconsciously releasing the same Reiatsu I was releasing back before I first released Zangetsu. I had to develop this seal so that my enemy's assassins wouldn't find me so easily during the war. We got used to it, I guess," Ichigo explained.

"No Zanpakutō _or_ Soul Reaper should _ever_ have to go against his partner's wishes!" Nimaiya exclaimed indignantly.

Ichigo just shrugged. "I kinda had no choice in the matter; it was either 'supress my power' or 'allow myself to die'," he answered.

"I see. You must be strong," Ichibē asserted.

Ichigo closed his eye and took a deep breath. "Not strong enough, apparently," he commented bleakly.

Ichibē averted his eyes. Obviously, the kid wouldn't reveal anything about the tale behind such a dark comment willingly, so why pressure him?

Suddenly, four spirits materialized around him, startling the four Soul Reapers of the Royal Guard.

"Yo! Who're they?" Ōetsu asked.

"Oh, they're Zangetsu," he answered.

"You have _four_ Zanpakutō spirits?" Senjumaru asked incredulously.

"Well... it's kinda complicated. I don't know what that machine did, but, from my understanding, the Zanpakutō spirit body that used to belong to her," he pointed to Benihime, "merged with the spirit body that they shared," he finished, gesturing to Zangetsu and the old man. "Also, the same happened with her," Ichigo added, pointing to Hōgyoku.

"Wha-? A machine did that?" Ōetsu asked.

"I guess so," Ichigo answered noncommittally.

"Ōetsu, can you make an Asauchi for the kid?" Ichibē asked, turning his head to face Nimaiya.

" _Make_ one? I have some Asauchi that are ready to go right now!" the eccentric blacksmith hollered.

"Excellent. Senjumaru and I will escort him to the kid's house," Ichibē commanded.

"Okay!" Nimaiya hollered.

* * *

 **The next day, the Shiba house...**

Kaien was standing at the window. He never saw Ichigo come back in with him last night, so he got worried, especially when he hadn't come out of his room when Kaien had banged on the door so much this morning (finally stopping when he didn't sense his Reiatsu inside the room at all). He had been waiting for about half an hour now, but it felt like forever.

He could remember when he simply wanted to go to the Seireitei to learn how to use his Reiatsu in a good way. Ichigo, however, managed to make him _want_ to become a Soul Reaper with all his heart (yes, by trying to kill him). He had managed to learn the basics of Soul Reaper combat (although his Kidō wasn't as good as Ichigo's) and wanted to learn more. He had known about Soul Reapers ever since he was less than Kūkaku's age, and he learned about Reiatsu when his Uncle Isshin came to visit him for the first time that year, but this was the first time he actually _wanted_ to do more than just use his Reiatsu. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly he wanted to do, but he managed to see enough to be convinced; he absolutely _had_ to become a Soul Reaper. And Ichigo had told him that, even though he never went to the Academy (which threw him for a loop the first time), he had a couple close friends that had gone there in his past who told him that Souls entered the Academy when they were at least 100 and had a certain amount of Reiatsu. Ichigo hadn't told him the required amount of Reiatsu (and Kaien was sure he didn't really know), but all he had to do to find out was take the entrance test. He was already 100, but he hadn't gotten the time to go take the test at any time during the beginnings of the school years that had passed.

Plus, he was handy to have around as a babysitter when their retainers had to go to town. It's not like Kaien couldn't have done it himself, but Ichigo just made Kūkaku and Ganju look... alive, really. That was more than Kaien could ever ask for.

Just then, Kaien heard footsteps behind him and turned to see his 50-years-younger sister and brother run through the door, stopping in front of him, smiling eagerly.

"Kaien! Has he come back yet?" Kūkaku asked.

"No, not yet," Kaien answered.

"Aww. What's keeping Ichigo-nii out? And why isn't he back yet?" Ganju asked.

"Don't worry, Ganju. I'm sure Ichigo is just out on an errand or something. He'll be back," Kaien assured them.

"Yeah, you idiot! And besides, what makes you say that Ichigo is even gone? He could have just slept in. I can break down the door if I have to," Kūkaku added.

"No, don't do that, Kūkaku!" Kaien became comically but understandably unnerved by his "innocent" little sister (who was admittedly less innocent than thirty years ago) saying something like that so casually.

"Why not?" she asked blankly, tilting her head to the side.

"Because, first of all, it's bad to invade a man's privacy like that. Second, we would then need to replace the door, during which time Ichigo wouldn't have a door or enough privacy. Third, I can sense Reiatsu, and Ichigo's isn't in the house right now," Kaien answered, first in a panicked tone but slowly becoming more relaxed as his arguments became more logical.

"Oh. But you're not a man yet! How would you know about a man's privacy?" Kūkaku asked knowingly.

"W-Well..." Kaien stuttered.

"And I can sense Reiatsu too!" Kūkaku protested, ignoring the lack of a reply from her brother.

"Then why did you suggest breaking down the door if you could sense all along that Ichigo's Reiatsu was gone?" Kaien asked, scowling.

"But-but-but... it was Ganju's idea!" she responded, accusingly pointing a finger at Ganju.

"What?! Nee-chan-D'OW!" Ganju tried to answer, but yelped as Kūkaku smacked him on the back of the head, resulting in him falling to the ground.

"You wanna say something, Ganju?" Kūkaku asked menacingly, stomping on his head.

"Yeah. I wanna say that I didn't- OW!" he started.

"Well, don't!" Kūkaku shot back, still abusing her brother for another few seconds. Kaien was sweat-dropping, but did nothing to stop the carnage inflicted on one guy.

"Alright, you two. Let's go to the kitchen," Kaien said, dragging them along in the position they were in.

The two of them stopped fighting when they saw the feast on the kitchen table. It really seemed to be overkill for _breakfast_ , but the three of them merely smiled in astonished delight as they sat down with their retainers.

It was a special occasion, after all.

"Itadakimasu!" two of them chanted before digging in (A/N: that's what the Japanese say before they eat a meal. I think it's a thanks-for-the-food type of thing).

"Hey! Shouldn't we wait for Ichigo?" Kaien asked.

"Huh?" Ganju asked, his face already stuffed.

Kaien sighed. "Never mind," he sighed exasperatedly.

"I'm home!" came a voice from the foyer. Kaien's eyes widened while Kūkaku smiled (so did Ganju, but he dare not speak again with his mouth full).

"Is that Ichigo?" Kūkaku asked excitedly, getting up.

"Nope. Not him," Kaien corrected, sighing.

Just then, a new figure appeared in the kitchen door. He was flying foot-first at the table, but to Kaien he was so slow he felt that he could get up, yawn, read a couple sentences in his book, then react. He didn't of course, but he still reacted by standing up. He stepped forward so as not to disturb the table before bringing his fist down on the man's torso, sending him crashing into the ground in less than an instant.

"Nice to see you too, Uncle Isshin..." Kaien grumbled.

The figure of the spiky-haired goofball popped up and blew away some of the dust. Smiling like a monkey, he was laughing.

"Hahaha, Kaien, my boy! Your reflexes have improved considerably! Before, you would just scream and stand there," Isshin commented.

"And what kind of guy tries to drop-kick their nephew who's standing in front of a table with food on it?" Kaien scowled.

"Whoa! Where did all this extra attitude come from? What happened to my favorite shy nephew?" Isshin asked, comically pouring tears from his eyes like water from a tea kettle.

"That could be Ichigo's fault," Ganju commented, taking a bite of some meat.

"Huh? Who is this 'Ichigo'? And what did he do to my poor nephew?" Isshin asked.

Kaien sighed. "He didn't do anything wrong, Uncle. He's a Soul Reaper. He just trained me in Zanjutsu. Oh, and Hakuda. And he taught me Shunpo. And then there was the Kidō... I was going to learn more Kidō at the Academy," he answered.

"You know Shunpo now? Okay. Let me see..." Isshin looked at the table and grabbed a pair of chopsticks. Turning around, he threw them out the window, watching them land. Turning back, he said, "Go get that with your Shunpo."

"Hmph. Easy," Kaien bragged. Vanishing, he reappeared an instant later (standing behind Isshin this time), waving the chopsticks in front of his uncle's face.

It apparently took Isshin a moment to realize that the chopsticks he was looking for were no longer so far away that he had to squint to see them. He turned his head from the window to Kaien, to the window, to Kaien. After doing this a couple of times, he stared at Kaien for a while.

"Well, that was fast. I almost couldn't follow it!" Isshin smiled.

"Yeah right, old man!"

Those at the table watched and laughed at the pair's unique dynamic (oh, if only they were watching from our perspective...). Kaien walked back over to the table with Isshin, who sat at the extra place that was unoccupied by Ichigo. He was still stunned a little, but he didn't show it, stuffing his face like Ganju was.

"Oi! Kaien! Come on out! I have a present for you!" came a voice from out the window. Kaien didn't react but smiled nonetheless (meaning he didn't react to the surprise of a new guest).

" _That_ is Ichigo," Kaien noted, vanishing with a Flash Step.

"Wait for me!" Isshin called after him, also vanishing in a Flash Step. The others looked at each other before leaving the normal way (by running).

Kaien appeared in front of Ichigo, and Isshin appeared behind Kaien.

"Where have you been, Ichigo?! We were worried about you!" Kaien shouted.

"Tone it down, will ya? We have company, ya know," Ichigo told him.

Immediately after that comment, he noticed the young woman and big bald man standing on either side of Ichigo.

"Huh? Who are you?" Kaien asked.

The big man smiled and held out a hand. "Hyōsube Ichibē, former Gotei 13 Captain!" he said cheerfully. Kaien shook it.

"I am Shutara Senjumaru. I was also a Captain once," she greeted, also shaking Kaien's hand.

"Whoa! Former captains! You must be strong!" Kaien commented.

"You have no idea, boy," Senjumaru commented, smiling in amusement.

"Speaking of which, I already know your name! It's Shiba Kaien, right?" Ichibe asked.

"Yeah. Did Ichigo tell you my name?" Kaien asked.

"Yep," Ichibe answered.

It was then that Kaien finally noticed the object in Ichigo's hand. It was also the point where Kūkaku, Ganju, and the two retainers (I can never remember their names) arrived on the scene. It looked to be a sheathed katana. Kaien sought to bring the conversation back on topic.

"So, Ichigo, why did you bring these former Captains with you?" he asked.

"Oh, they were escorting me from the place where I got this," Ichigo answered, holding up the Asauchi.

"Is this what you meant by my present?" Kaien asked.

"It's not just any old katana, if that's what you're thinking. Go ahead; unsheathe it," Ichigo commanded.

Kaien did as he was told. Gripping the sheath in one hand and the sword hilt in the other, he pulled the sword out of the sheath in one quick motion. Gripping the sword the way he was used to, he looked down and examined the blade, feeling the weight of it and everything. It felt more... _fitting_... than the older katana he was now used to wielding (though, to be fair, he knew Ichigo got a shit-quality sword on purpose). The grip was relaxing and the blade was just long enough for him to reach out the farthest he could without being weighed off balance by its weight. He didn't know why, but he felt like, as he stared down at the reflective surface of the sword, something else was staring back at him. Some _one_ else...

' _That's because I am, Kaien._ '

Kaien blanched at that, but he did not react (again, meaning surprise didn't do anything to him physically).

"Huh? What's wrong, Kaien?" Kūkaku asked.

Kaien did not answer.

"Don't worry about him, little girl. He's okay," Senjumaru answered. Kūkaku didn't stop staring at him like something was wrong, but it did make her observe.

She snapped her fingers right next to his ear to see if he would react to the sound. He did not move.

Meanwhile, I will jump back to Kaien's mental conversation. They had just settled the fact that this voice did indeed belong to the lady from the dream last night and that she was talking to him only.

' _Okay, so... who are you? Obviously, you're not just some dream if you're answering my questions._ ' Kaien asked.

The voice chuckled; a sweet sound to his ears. ' _Of course not, dear. Don't you remember Ichigo-kun explaining Zanpakutō to you? You nearly cried when he said you couldn't have one yet!_ ' she stated (yes, it was a 'she').

' _How do you know that? Were you spying on us?_ ' he asked.

' _"Spying"... Honey, I've been here your whole life. There is almost nothing you could hide from me right now. But focus on what he was saying. I am a spirit born of your personality. I've been here since you were born as a Soul, and I grew up with you,_ ' she explained.

' _Wait, so you're..._ ' Kaien asked the voice.

' _Release my power and find out,_ ' she stated simply.

' _And how am I supposed to do that?_ ' Kaien deadpanned.

' _Just repeat after me..._ '

Externally, this is where Kaien started moving.

"Rage through the seas and heavens, Nejibana!" Kaien called out.

Instantly, the blade he was holding in one hand before changed. Isshin looked surprised (deathly surprised), but the others were amazed. First, the body of the weapon elongated to make a shaft, then the end that was the blade became the head of a trident and that of the hilt became a spear with threads (like an old-fashioned cartoon drill). A tassel formed at the base of the head, which was metallic grey to match the rest of the Zanpakutō.

"Whoa! Cool! What just happened?" Kūkaku asked, amazed.

"I... don't know," Kaien said slowly, examining his released sword.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Don't you know about Shikai if you're studying to become a Soul Reaper?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Huh? Shikai? What's that?" Ganju asked.

"Well, basically, Shikai is what they call the released form of a Zanpakutō. You know about Zanpakutō spirits, right?" Ichigo answered.

"Yeah. Uncle Isshin told us about them," Ganju stated.

It was only then that Ichigo noticed the dumbfounded Soul Reaper with spiky hair. He waved in greeting at him, but they did not speak.

Electing to break the tension, Kaien asked, "Wow! So this is my Shikai?"

"Well, didn't you hear 'a lady's voice'? I would assume that, if you've been having the same dream for the past month, it could only be your Zanpakuto spirit," Ichigo answered.

"How does it feel, kid?" Senjumaru asked.

He seemed to think about that one for a moment. "It feels... comfortable. Like a glove, really," he answered.

"Good," Ichigo answered.

"Thank you so much, Ichigo-sensei," Kaien said, gratitude in his tone.

"Aw, come on Kaien! What'd I say about calling me 'sensei'?" Ichigo griped. However, neither him nor his student could keep a straight face and they both chuckled and smiled.

"Congratulations, Kaien. And happy 130th birthday." (that was more of a general thought, but Ichigo voiced it well enough.)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Whoo! Finally done! School is a boring son of a gun these days. I don't know how the adults ever put up with it. Anyway, later!


	4. Chapter 3: A New Life Begins Normally?

Disclaimer: You know the difference between a pile of dead bodies and Bleach?

Simple. I don't own Bleach.

Anyway, creepy jokes aside, enjoy.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Before we get into the details of Kaien's situation right now, let's establish one thing: Ichigo trusted him. They had trained and fought together for thirty years. They had indeed gone out when Hollows appeared in the outer districts, and Kaien already knew about the sub-class of Hollows called Menos and of the existence of Arrancar (no, these were not in the same conversation). In fact, he had met an Arrancar already (technically four, but I'm about to show you why I say 'one'). During their thirty-year training, Kaien had asked about that "cool technique" he saw as a 100-year-old brat when those insanely strong Hollows appeared in front of his house, and Ichigo had explained that his "unique" Zanpakutō spirit pulled the Hollows inside his inner world. Kaien could still remember that five minutes or so word for word.

 _Flashback_

 _They were currently sitting in the main room after eating their meal, alone. Kaien was sitting across from Ichigo (he was sitting on the table). Kūkaku was practicing making fireworks in her room ("I wanna know how to make fireworks too!") and Ganju was simply watching, not wanting to invoke his sister's beatdowns (she had a pretty mean right hook). The retainers were supervising (or, as they stated it, "making sure the house doesn't burn down")._

 _"Hey, Ichigo, do you remember the day you met me?" Kaien had asked._

 _"Huh? Yeah, sure I do. Why?" Ichigo answered, looking at Kaien to try to figure out what he wanted._

 _"Do you remember how you took care of those really strong Hollows that showed up?" Kaien asked after that._

 _Ichigo blanched a little. "Oh. You wanna know what I did, huh? Well, I'll tell you when you are older," he diverted the subject._

 _"Aw, why can't I know now?" Kaien whined._

 _"When you grow up a little more, I can tell you. But, for now, just be a kid." Kaien looked visibly discouraged at this, slouching and shutting his eyes. Ichigo put a hand on Kaien's shoulder, making him focus his gaze back on Ichigo._

 _"Hey, tell you what, Kaien," Ichigo said, "I'll tell you when you get to go to the Soul Reaper Academy. Deal?"_

 _Kaien instantly brightened up at that, his expression becoming punctuated with a smile and a grateful gaze._

 _"Deal!" he said excitedly._

 _Back to the present..._

And so, after Isshin, Senjumaru, and Ichibē left for the Seireitei (Isshin was still mostly bewildered that his nephew achieved Shikai the first time he held his Asauchi, which _had_ to be a new record), Ichigo had pulled Kaien over for a private chat at their training area. Kaien had remembered Ichigo's promise and accepted Ichigo's condition: don't overreact.

 _Another flashback_

 _"Okay, Kaien. Here goes: I rescued the Hollows by dragging them into my inner world. There, I calmed them down and made sure they didn't attack anyone. They are in my inner world right now," Ichigo explained._

 _Kaien didn't react for a minute, not even with speech. The clearing was silent save for the rustle of the leaves overhead and the wind blowing waves in the grass._

 _Finally, Kaien broke that silence. "Why?" Kaien finally asked, expressionless but turmoil expressed in his eyes._

 _Ichigo rubbed the back of his head for a second. "Well, the way I see it, it doesn't matter if someone's a Hollow or a Soul Reaper or a Plus; everyone deserves a chance. I gave that Hollow the chance to demonstrate what she would do if her fellow Hollows were put in a sticky situation, and she tried to save them by cutting my arm off," he explained._

 _"And what if she had succeeded?" Kaien asked._

 _"Then I would've saved her anyway; the Soul Reapers were coming regardless, and she clearly had more of a brain than a regular Hollow; she had used her friends' names. After all, she and her friends are Menos, and Menos are closer to Pluses than any ordinary Hollow and a whole lot stronger than those regular Hollows; they have the ability to use logic. They would have attracted more attention the longer they were out there," Ichigo answered._

 _"I see," Kaien answered._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _There was that silence again..._

 _Suddenly, Kaien pulled out his sword and swung. Had Ichigo's Zangetsu not been there to block Kaien's newly-christened Nejibana, Ichigo would have been... well, hit by a sword. Zangetsu's Hierro and his subconscious Blut Vene would have done a pretty good job of stopping the sword from doing any damage._

 _"Wha-? Kaien? What are you doing?" Ichigo simply remained silent as he continued his barrage of sword swings. Ichigo blocked each one, but he was backing up with each blocked hit from the force of the blows. "Are you angry, Kaien?" Ichigo asked, still backing up. Kaien still didn't reply. For a few minutes they proceeded like this. Ichigo could tell whether Kaien was trying to kill him; it would make sense if he was, and yet it would be nice if he wasn't. He wasn't aiming for the head or neck; just the arms, legs, torso, varying his barrage with Reiatsu punches and even a Flash Step or two; he even tried using a few Kidō spells. Eventually, Ichigo tripped. Sounds pathetic, but he really didn't notice the tree root behind him with Kaien overwhelming him like that. He landed on his back, a sword aimed at his neck. He looked up, and Kaien was..._

 _He was smiling. "You done?"_

 _Ichigo finally realized what had been going on. Kaien was a lot like him; just much kinder. He wouldn't kill or even injure someone for their past deeds. In other words, Kaien was messing with him to lighten the mood._

 _"Yeah, let's cut it out for now," Ichigo agreed. Kaien pulled his sword away and sheathed it, helping Ichigo up. Once Ichigo was standing, Kaien asked this:_

 _"So, when can I meet these 'smart Hollows'?"_

 _"I'll manifest them right now," Ichigo answered, putting his hands to the ground. Blue Reishi particles gathered gradually into the form of four humanoid Souls (it sounds so sci-fi when I say that...). After a minute, these four were fully formed. Harribel had a questioning look on her face, Apache seemed grouchy, Mila Rose was about to slap Apache, and Sun-Sun was watching on with amused purple eyes. As soon as they were manifested, they animated. Apache and Mila Rose were having a shouting match with each other and a one-sided shouting match with Sun-Sun. Harribel, however, looked around at Ichigo. The old Harribel would've glared icily at Ichigo right now. Instead, she simply seemed to wonder why she was in Soul Society again._

 _"Kurosaki Ichigo, why have you manifested us?" she asked immediately while the others were "debating"._

 _"Ah, Kaien wanted to meet you all," Ichigo answered, gesturing to the black-haired boy._

 _"Yo! Shiba Kaien!" he greeted._

 _"Tier Harribel. And the three of them are Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila Rose," she said, pointing to the corresponding Arrancar._

 _"Wow. You four look... nothing like the traditional Hollows," Kaien commented. "Really, the only part of you that looks like a Hollow is that hole in your gut. And where did you get those clothes? They're so... risqué."_

 _"I do not know who is to blame for the 'risqué' choice of clothing," she stated, giving Ichigo an accusing look, "but all four of us have fragments of our masks on our faces as well."_

 _"Hey, it's all that came to me. That was what I first saw you wearing," Ichigo argued._

 _"Yeah. I get that," Harribel deadpanned._

 _"Oh yeah, I almost didn't notice the mask fragments on their faces. What about yours?" Kaien asked._

 _"Mine are under this collar," Harribel answered, unzipping her top down to her neck, revealing her piscine mask fragments._

 _"Wow. Those look... really cool!" Kaien smiled._

 _"Thank you for the compliment," Harribel said stoically, zipping her collar back up._

 _"So, you're not going to attack anyone?" Kaien asked._

 _"No. I have no reason to. Besides, I have decided to help Kurosaki Ichigo after he transformed us into complete Arrancars," Harribel answered._

 _"'Arrancar'? What's that?" Kaien asked blankly._

 _"We are Hollows who have ripped off our masks. Usually, a Hollow cannot rip off their mask so easily, so the natural Arrancar are incomplete. Ichigo has helped us through the process so that we are not incomplete. In a way, we are more like Soul Reapers than ordinary Hollows or Menos," Harribel explained._

 _"Ah. Well, either way, as long as he's not planning anything dangerous, I won't say a word," Kaien smiled._

 _"Appreciated," Harribel commented, she and the others de-manifesting, the Reishi particles that made them up dispersing._

 _Back to the present yet again..._

"There's the new Shiba!"

"Ooh! He looks so... rough-and-tumble!"

"Wow! He looks like a younger version of that bodyguard guy!"

"Hey, I heard he already had Shikai when he got here!"

"Are you serious? We haven't even had these for a week and he's already ahead of us?!"

"I wonder who the sexy blonde lady is."

"I think she's the _other_ bodyguard."

These were the whispered comments of the upperclassmen that Kaien heard as he walked through a hallway at the Soul Reaper Academy with his two "bodyguards" behind him (it's not that they _couldn't_ be his bodyguards, it's that they _weren't_ his bodyguards; Kaien was getting annoyed that everybody just _assumed_ that, even if it was natural). His 130th birthday (he just said one day that June 2 would be his birthday) was last week, and it was the second day of school, and he was still hearing those whisperings in the otherwise-quiet hallways.

Kaien definitely looked older than thirty years ago; he was already only an inch shorter than Ichigo whereas he was a whole couple feet shorter before Ichigo, and he appeared, to a Living-World Resident, to be a 17 year old; he was currently donned in the blue Academy uniform: blue hakama and a white coat with blue stripes on the sleeves and a blue undercoat. His Zanpakutō was not at his waist like it usually should; he had decided with the administration that he would hide his Zanpakutō in his sleeve so as not to "show off like the son of a rich bitch," as the Headmaster put it. As such, nobody could really know where he got a Zanpakutō; after all, some people found a Zanpakutō out in the Rukongai and used it as their own until it eventually became _their_ Zanpakutō. Nobody needed to know where he got such a valuable weapon (except the administration; Kaien told them the story).

Ichigo was on his left, wearing the standard Academy uniform with the symbol over each of the pecs and the blue pants, standard except for his black-and-white choker and his two sealed Zanpakutō blades peeking out from his sleeves, something many people also noted; he was wearing his sleeveless Shihakushō underneath, which peeked out from the blue undercoat that was the Academy regulation. His hair reached down to his neck at the back of his head and was unusually long (but not _too_ long) on the rest of his head. His eye patch was a circle connected to the choker by cloth. He bore a tattoo of a Substitute Soul Reaper badge on his hand (nobody recognized it; Ichigo explained that it was a seal).

The third person was, believe it or not, Tier Harribel. Quickly, I will explain how in the flying forks she managed to just _walk_ into the Academy, much less the Seireitei. She wasn't able to seal her Reiatsu away completely on her own yet, so she had Ichigo place one of his seals on her. This was the same kind as the one sealing away Ichigo's own power, just less modified: less components means less pressure on the wearer; and less pressure means not being so tense that it hurts. That way, Harribel wouldn't feel as if she was being crushed by the constriction of the seal and yet still benefit from her power being sealed away (mostly; it would be unusual to be emitting absolutely _nothing_ , right?). It would also be odd of her to be wearing something that exposes a lot of leg and midriff when the teachers and students around her were wearing garments that covered those areas pretty much completely. So, over the white half-clothing, she wore a basic Academy Shihakushō that, together, still covered her jaw with the air filters still on the collar. Her wide-berthed sword was on her back, slightly obscured by her long messy hair (there were no braids in her hair like Ichigo could remember her having) and there was a new sword at her waist.

Of course, all three of them ignored the stares and continued on to their destination: the Headmaster's office.

They finally came up to a door everyone recognized as that of the Headmaster himself. It's not that everybody visited him on a daily basis-

"HAHAHA! Oh man, Kotetsu-chan! You did _not_!"

...Rather, it's the only door where you could hear _that_.

More specifically, it was the only door where you could hear someone being referred to as 'Kotetsu-chan'. _Everyone_ spread rumors about their supposed "relationship," but those people always went silent whenever she wasn't inside the office, behind a closed door.

Ichigo mentally raised an eyebrow. '"Kotetsu-chan"? Wasn't that...'

Kaien didn't appear fazed as he calmly slid open the door, drawing the attention of the two people in there, who were sitting at a round table with six chairs. Everyone in the hallway stopped talking in favor of not "loitering like a bunch of brainless chimpanzees," according to the Headmaster.

The Headmaster turned his head to see who had opened the door, a scowl automatically painting his face (because it was not uncommon to get a disciplinary visit to the Headmaster's office if you were a rowdy Soul, regardless of origin). That scowl disappeared fairly soon, however, when he saw his newest first-year students.

"Ah, Shiba-san, Ichigo-san, Harribel-san, welcome! Kotetsu-chan, have you met Shiba-san and his two body- I mean, friends?" the man greeted. He was a big man, I kid you not. He was tall and had a bushy beard and eyebrows, and he made himself seen just by sitting in his seat. It's not that he was extremely obese or overly muscular, overly cheerful or not cheerful enough. The quirk with him was more like this: if he laughed, he looked like a fat, wizened old man who spent his life in bleak boredom and wanted to hear a good joke, then got what he wished for, but if he was mad, he looked like he had been training to lift a mountain for a hundred years straight, then found out that you blew up all the mountains one could possibly lift because you wanted to swat a fly (in other words, for no sensible or helpful reason). And he was the type to switch from jovial to bored like no other, and without warning. Kaien had found that out the hard way during their first conversation, which was yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ichigo could recognize the lady sitting across from the Headmaster. She was a small woman (at least compared to the big Headmaster), though petite might be a better word for it. She had short brown hair, which was all Kaien and co. could see until she turned her head and showed them her purple eyes. She was wearing a standard Shihakusho, so she couldn't have been a student, and a white shirt underneath her Shihakusho (a little bit of which was peeking out from her lapels... there's no X-ray vision here...). She was staring at them.

"Hmm, not yet. But now's a good time to introduce myself, I guess! I'm Kotetsu Kiyone. I just graduated and now I'm part of Squad 13!" the petite lady introduced herself, smiling pleasantly.

Kaien merely smiled back. "Shiba Kaien. But, please, don't address me with any special honorifics; I'm a student now," he greeted, smiling politely. Then he stepped back so he was behind his two friends. "And these two are my friends," he added.

Taking the cue, Ichigo started with his name. "Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you. But please just call me Ichigo. I'd rather keep the whole 'Shiba' thing under wraps," he introduced.

This apparently piqued not only Kiyone's interest, but also Harribel's, Kaien's, and the Headmaster's. They all stared at him with varying degrees of confusion and bewilderment.

"Uh... I don't mean to pry, but I'm just curious... why?" Kiyone asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Well..." Ichigo started.

"Aw, Ichigo! Didn't I tell you there's nothing embarrassing about being adopted?" Kaien interrupted him.

"Huh?" the Headmaster asked. (P.S. He will remain 'the Headmaster')

"Yeah. After training Kaien for a while, he decided he wanted to adopt me into the family," he explained, then looking down in what seemed like shame (but, in truth, it really wasn't), "Don't ask. I just have a thing with adoptions."

"'A thing', huh? Well, okay. If it hurts you that much, then I won't pry," Kiyone answered back, smiling perkily. Then she turned to Kaien. "And what about you? How's school going for you on the... what was it, the second day?" she asked, looking to the Headmaster for confirmation, which he provided with a grunt.

"Well, I actually came to talk about that with the Headmaster. Now, Headmaster, you said to come to you if any of us students already knew the material during the entrance speech, right? Well, I know I'm in the advanced class, but I still think I already know the stuff they're teaching. What do I do to get _taught_ something new?" Kaien explained.

The Headmaster laughed, a deep, sincere laugh. "I like your cheek, kid! But, all jokes aside," he started, suddenly turning serious, "a student _can_ test for their right to promote early. You'd move up to the next year. That's the most we can do for such students who wish to graduate early. If you choose, you can take the test as many times as you want; however, you must take the test at the testing periods each month."

Kiyone stared wide-eyed at him. "That's a thing? There've been people who would need to take such a test?" she asked, bewildered once again.

"Yes," the Headmaster affirmed, turning back to Kaien, "but it is very hard indeed. To take such a test, you would need to take an entrance examination first-"

"Wait, you have an entrance test for an early promotion? That seems kind of counter-intuitive," Ichigo commented.

"Yeah, well, if we didn't do that, there'd be many lining up, thinking they can do it, only to fail and have serious things happen to them. We've had people who could no longer become Soul Reapers because their Soul Sleep was destroyed, or they die because they get careless. We've had to send all of the ones who survived home because they could no longer manipulate Reiryoku and Reiatsu. Are you following me?" he explained. Kaien nodded to his question, as well as Ichigo.

"Well, I'm not really learning anything new to me. I'm sure I already know Hakuda well enough to defeat a sixth-year student, I can definitely outmaneuver my classmates in the Hoho no Taiikuken (Agility Gym), and I know Zanjutsu well enough to put up a good fight. So, again, what do I need to do to get _taught_ something?" Kaien explained.

"I see. So you already know enough to go up a grade level, do you? Well, then, I'll sign you up for the test. The entrance examination is a written test. You'll answer some questions, then, if you pass, you move on to the actual early promotion test," the Headmaster explained.

"Ah. I see," Kaien affirmed, nodding.

"You still feeling up to it after hearing that?" the Headmaster cajoled him.

"You bet," Kaien answered, smiling confidently.

"Good. That's the kind of spirit that a Soul Reaper would really need," the Headmaster stated sagely.

"So, Ichigo-san, what about you? Did you go to the Academy?" Kiyone asked.

"No."

"Oh. So, you taught him and yet you didn't go to the Academy?" Kiyone asked skeptically.

"I was a... special case," Ichigo answered vaguely, not moving at all.

"How so?"

His eye closed and he sighed briefly. "I don't want to talk about it," Ichigo answered.

Kiyone stared at him. She was looking into his one visible eye, probably trying to see if she could glean any more questions or information from his gaze, or even uncover a possible lie. She could've stopped staring, but something just made her keep looking at him, even after she had forgotten what that was. Eventually (after a minute, actually), she caught herself staring and looked away, blushing lightly with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Ichigo responded offhandedly.

"What about you, Harribel-san?" she asked.

"I was also trained by Kurosaki," she answered.

"Oh," Kiyone said, not quite sure what to say. They stayed in silence that was slowly becoming awkward.

Clearing his throat, the Headmaster changed the subject. "Well, uh, anyway, if that's all, you may leave. Don't forget your classes, Ichigo, Kaien, Harribel," he commanded.

"Huh? We have classes? Why?" Harribel asked.

"Call it a 'long-term examination'. We're simply going to see how well you three do in the classes and how well Kaien does in his advancement test to see if you actually count as a good teacher... especially since you look like you're only 170 and combined with the fact that we have never heard of you," the Headmaster explained.

"Oh, I'm flattered that you think I'm 170," Ichigo smiled. Clearly, his plan worked; the old headmaster laughed and most of those present smiled.

"I can vouch for his ability to teach," Kaien stated.

"True, you could, but how would we know that what he taught you was any good without seeing for ourselves?" the Headmaster argued.

Kaien scowled alongside Ichigo for a minute, before they shrugged and sighed in unison before glaring at each other for a second. Kiyone started laughing at this, getting everyone's attention.

"What's so funny?" Ichigo asked.

Kiyone didn't stop laughing to answer for a second, then she said in between pants, "Oh... nothing much... you two just look... and act... _so_ alike..."

"*sigh*... Yeah, okay," he said flippantly.

* * *

"... And this is your dorm, Shiba-san. Your roommate is... Shiba Ichigo. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I do. He's my friend and honorary brother. But that seems a little too planned out... And would you please just refer to me as Kaien? I'm a student, not a stuck-up noble. Don't forget that I used to live in the Rukongai," Kaien answered.

"Sorry, Kaien-san," said the girl that was his guide. She appeared to be a sixth-year student from the six stripes on her sleeves. She had long silvery hair, bright blue eyes, and a pink sash running over her shoulders, as well as a chain that hooked right above her ample chest. She seemed to wear a smiling expression the whole time; Kaien couldn't place whether it was mischievous or sincerely happy, but it did seem to change depending on the situation, so at least she wasn't trying to keep up some front around him... that was good. Her apparently-normal flirty tone of voice didn't stay that way when she was supposed to be serious; rather, it was more of a calm and impartial voice, the mark of a truly mature person. Of course, she seemed like a real party girl, so her being mature was a rather... odd idea to entertain.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it," Kaien shrugged. Changing the subject, his face changed from a scowl to a look of curiosity. "Hey, what's your name? Maybe we have some classes together...?" he asked offhandedly.

"My my. Work fast, do we?" she teased, smiling. "But I see no reason not to tell you my name. I'm Shinohara Mira. And I looked at your schedule. Somehow, we have every class together; our schedules are identical twins," she answered.

"Huh? More planned-out things? Geez, what the heck?" he asked incredulously and rhetorically.

The girl mock-pouted. "But I was just kidding! Sixth-years and first-years don't have the same classes, silly boy! Am I really _that_ bad?" she asked with fake offense.

Kaien simply shook his head. "No, but I think it's a little strange that _any_ two people could have matching schedules purely on coincidence or that my teacher is also my roommate," he answered.

"'Teacher'? That's interesting. So, do you already know a little bit of what they're teaching us here?" Rangiku asked.

"Oh, something like that," Kaien stated, alluding to that fact; with his noncommittal tone being a form of sarcasm.

"Tough guy, huh? Well, maybe I'll see how you do in classes this week. After all, you say you were taking the advancement test at the end of the month," she promised.

"Actually, just the entrance test into the advancement test," Kaien corrected her.

"I know. That's what I meant. I've taken the test five times before already; I know how it works," she stated.

"Oh? So, do you have any advice or words of encouragement or are you just going to let me go in blind?" Kaien asked teasingly.

To Kaien's mild surprise, she actually thought about it before saying, "Well, fine then. Your advice is this: don't die," she stated.

Kaien's mind resonated with the familiar words he remembered so well. A smile broke out on his face, which seemed to confuse her. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Kaien shook his head. "No, it's nothing. It's just that, if that's all you have for me, then I think I'll do just fine," he smiled proudly.

Shinohara just looked on confusedly, this being the first time she's really been confused in a while. I mean, sure, some people zoned out in classes and got confused when they didn't pay any attention or not enough attention to answer the question, and, yeah, she knew she zoned out sometimes in Kidō Practical and consequently hit someone else with the particular spell they were practicing (she had been lucky yesterday during the show-me-all-the-spells-you-know day; she was only practicing Hadō 1: Shō, which is naturally the least destructive of every spell _period,_ she knew; that student merely tripped and set fire to the teacher's hair with Shakkahō, who then set fire to the field when she fell down...), but those were not the same as _this_ confusion; this particular occasion was riddled with curiosity while that first occasion was more of a bored accident. She felt like, every day, when she had seen someone she did not know (or maybe some she did), she was never looking at someone with much depth; it always felt like the people were either too new to possibly have depth or too shallow for her liking. This tall, 130-year old boy, however, seemed to not be too new to... well, any of this; he didn't seem to be nervous about moving into a dormitory (when one was nervous about this, she found, the person would hesitate to walk in, maybe fidget around a little, maybe look her way a couple times like they were newborns; he did none of those things), he seemed to be rather confident about taking classes at the Academy, he wasn't staring at her body enough to warrant being called "staring" (which, she did admit, she did giggle at whenever she caught someone), and... he seemed like he already knew what he wanted to live for. She could tell by his eyes (cheesy, I know); he wasn't narrowing his eyes slightly with paranoia, yet he wasn't so loose that he completely stopped paying attention to the person he was talking to; he wasn't nervous about being around a stranger who was also an upperclassman, yet he wasn't so bold as to make himself a dead man walking with some stupid comment; he wasn't some smart-aleck or smart-ass asshole, but also he wasn't so hardheaded and stupid to come off as an idiot.

Much more than she thought could be said about her, at least...

"Hey, I just remembered, aren't there separate areas for male and female dorms?" Kaien asked shyly.

Snapped out of her sad musings, she giggled. "Yep, but we student guides have these passes that let us go... everywhere, really. Well, except for the staff-only areas, but having a pass is proof that you're trustworthy enough to not do anything that would warrant expulsion or arrest when you have that kind of freedom," she explained, smiling and holding up a pass. It was a finely crafted little card of wood, with a gold bevel frame and her name impressed into it.

Kaien smiled back. "Oh. Good, then," he commented.

Suddenly-

"GAAAAAAAAH!"

-they heard-

*THUD* "OW! Shisu-chan, that hurt! Watch where you're going!"

-I _said_ , they heard... oh, never mind! You might be able to guess what happened, but I'll tell you anyway because you may guess wrong: they had heard the scream and both their heads quickly jerked down to the end of the hallway, which led out into a courtyard. They saw a fourth-year student nearly as big as the hallway they were in go flying from one side to the other. They heard a thud and went to investigate. Turns out, a first-year girl was standing there, shaking her wrist out while her hand was loose so it could be shaken out, her "opponent" lying on the floor in front of her, buried slightly in the wood. Then they looked the other way and noticed a single person walking calmly down the hallway behind a group of littler underclassmen of various years who were running in a panic and two other first-year ladies who simply stood next to the first-year that hit him. Those people crowded around the fallen big guy while the man still calmly walked onward.

"Ichigo-?" Kaien asked.

"GEEZ!" Ichigo interrupted, "I'm not even in high school anymore and they're _still_ targeting me for my hair!"

Mira turned to Kaien, bright blue eyes fully open; and her face looked more surprised than serious or worried. "Is _that guy_ Shiba Ichigo?" she asked.

"Yep, that's him!" Kaien affirmed cheerfully.

"He just hit my boyfriend!" she yelled at him.

"Oh, well, sorry. But I know Ichigo well. He's not the type of guy to start this type of thing with anyone. And my family is nuts, yet he's been living with us for thirty years," Kaien smiled, this time in apology. "Why don't we just watch and see if we can guess what happened?" he suggested. She only huffed and turned away in response, choosing to look at the guy who was getting up over the guy who just tried to calm her down.

Anyway, so the guy is up now. He looks like he's going to rip somebody to shreds with his bare hands. He was shoving the girl who had just stopped him from flying into the wall using her fist.

"Hey, you! Why did you hit me?" he asked threateningly; the black-haired girl did not appear intimidated.

"Oh, so you would rather have gone flying into the wall, huh? Well, I won't stop you," she said teasingly. Then, she added, "And I've been hanging around you for a couple years, yet you still don't know that my name's Giselle. How stupid."

"Shut your mouth, bitch!" he shouted, commanding her, raising a fist.

"Leave her alone, Sushi," Ichigo commanded calmly.

"My name is Shisu! And _you_ got in _my_ way, yet you're going to _keep_ ordering me around like you know more than me? Ridiculous! Get out of my way and stay out of my business, bastard!" he yelled, face now red with anger.

"My name is not 'bastard.' It's Ichigo. And, for the record, I'm a first-year student, not a beginner; you, on the other hand, are a fourth-year, not an expert. Don't think I can't take you down," Ichigo replied calmly back.

Shisu was so red, people could swear there was steam coming from his ears (metaphorically; there was no steam actually there).

"Why you..." he growled. He was releasing his Reiatsu, which was not at an unmanageable level for Kaien and Mira, but it was for his posse, apparently; they were all doubled over and grunting in an effort to raise their head. Meanwhile, Ichigo's demeanor hadn't changed; he was still calmly walking down the hallway, acting like he was watching a movie and was one of those guys that could _totally_ see the ending coming from a mile away. "...You bastard! Get out of my way! I need to mow that punk down!" Shisu finished.

"Not happening," Ichigo said firmly.

"Why not, huh? What happened between us is none of your business!" the big dude said.

"I _made_ it my business. I don't care what it was that may have upset you, but you're letting your emotions say what you're gonna do. Do what you wish, but I will not just stand by and watch someone who wasn't doing anything wrong be hurt by someone with poor judgement," Ichigo countered.

"Shut your trap and learn your place, _student bodyguard_! I'm a _fourth_ -year! You better not be disrespecting your superiors! Plus, it's just one of you versus a whole bunch of us!" the bully threatened, moving across the courtyard as spectators gathered (because, yes, they're in an open-air courtyard).

Ichigo just stood there, pointing at them and moving his finger around; it was apparent to most that he was counting.

"What are you doing, idiot?" asked one of the many students in the group (it must not have been apparent enough for him...).

Ichigo simply said nothing as he gently closed and opened a fist, releasing a butterfly - a Hell Butterfly, to be accurate - in a trail of white energy.

A third goon; one of the only three ladies, blond and tall with a wild hairstyle ("wild" meaning curly but long), but vicious in appearance, smirked. "Calling for help, are you?" she sneered.

Ichigo turned to them. "Nope. I was counting how many stretchers I would need to ask Captain Unohana for; if you insist on fighting me, you're gonna need her squad's help if you want to stay alive afterwards," he stated teasingly, smiling a little.

The entire courtyard remained almost silent. One could hear giggling and chuckling all around the thirty-some-versus-one. The big guy he originally sent flying, along with the rest of the group, turned red with anger, embarrassment, and indignation (none of which were founded). Looking around nearly shut them up, then he turned back to the man in front of him and screeched.

"YOU'RE DEAD!"

At once, all of them ran to tangle with Ichigo. He merely put two fingers together.

"Hainawa."

It was all over so fast; the erratically-bending light flowed from his fingertips and did something that everyone was surprised to see, including the teacher once he regained his bearings after appearing with Shunpo...

It split. As in, split into multiple bolts of light.

Anyway, it coiled up each person, from their legs to their hips and up over their shoulders to their arms. Even before it coiled around them, they were falling over and struggling to get up, grunting and struggling (although one guy was a perv who happened to land right behind the blond girl as she was trying to get up and didn't move after that), but it was all in vain. Ichigo simply turned to look at Kaien and Mira and walked towards them, heedless of everyone's amazed stares or the attackers' verbal cajoling. When he arrived at their position at the entrance to the hallway, he smirked (which kinda widened when Kaien asked the girl, " _That_ jerk is your boyfriend?).

"Hey, Kaien. Who's this?" he asked.

"Uh... this is Shinohara Mira, a sixth-year student guide. And you just tied up her boyfriend, so be careful what you say," he introduced warily.

"Oh... well, I'm sorry I had to tie up your boyfriend, but I didn't want to fight him," Ichigo said, looking her direction and appearing only slightly bewildered. Extending a hand, he did nothing more except say, "I'm Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you."

Mira, meanwhile, looked between this man, who was able to tie up thirty or so upperclassmen with a single Hainawa without chant, and her boyfriend and his gang, who were all being restrained by masked Soul Reapers wearing black haori and dragged out of the courtyard through an aisle the students formed; and her appearance was one of first extreme bewilderment, then the shock set in, then disbelief times two (one at the power this orange-haired man in front of her showed and the other at the fact that her boyfriend was being dragged off by the school guards), then she got her bearings. She distractedly shook his hand, then let her hand drop to her side.

"Are you the one who sent him flying just before that weird Hainawa?" she asked, apparently still not all together.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, it happened because of me, no, I didn't _send_ him flying; I was using my Reiatsu as a barrier when he came up to me looking like he was mad at me, and he hit me, but _he_ went flying. I guess my Reiatsu is stronger," Ichigo explained. Then, he closed his eye and went on with, "And that was just an ordinary Hainawa. I just added more Reiatsu to make it split so each binding had the same strength as the original."

Not hearing a reply, he opened his eye and looked to see why she wasn't responding, only for her to respond with this: "Oh, is that all? Well, then, let's just start over; I don't think either of us want to meet awkwardly. Hey. I'm Shinohara Mira."

Playing along, Ichigo greeted with, "Shiba Ichigo. Nice to meet you... uh, again," he said, only _he_ was distracted now.

"Huh? What's wrong, Shiba-kun? You're staring..." she asked.

Ichigo jerked his head slightly. "Nah, I'm okay. Sorry about that. You just look like a close friend of mine..." he apologized.

"Oh, really? Is she a fun person everyday like me?" she asked cutely (meaning, in this case, that she smiled as if she were being insincere).

Ichigo tensed, something that took the smile off her face, and sighed, something that caused her to tilt her head in confusion.

"She's... not alive," Ichigo said blankly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Mira apologized, hugging him and pressing his head into her breasts, looking down at him.

"Mira-san, what are you doing?!" Kaien asked incredulously.

Turning her head to face him, her hands still on the back and top of Ichigo's head, she asked, "What? I'm just letting him be a guy for a little bit as an apology. What's wrong with that?"

"I think he's suffocating..." Kaien deadpanned.

"Hmm?" she grunted; she quickly looked down and removed one hand, the one holding his head down from above. Indeed, Ichigo wasn't moving... breathing, but not moving.

Kaien sighed. "It's fine. You said he was my roommate, right? Well, we're already _at_ his and my room; let's just lie him down in there on the bed or something," he suggested.

"Sounds good," she agreed, dragging him into the room with Kaien closing the door behind them.

* * *

Harribel was pretty bored.

Right now, she was lying down in her new room. She really had nothing to put away or anything, so she was fine there. She was actually given an Asauchi despite her saying to the people who examined her that she already had a Zanpakutō. It had annoyed her at first, but then they decided to let her demonstrate if whether she already had a Zanpakutō spirit. The rules were simple and could not have been rigged (she had gone over that possibility a couple of times) but she still didn't pass the test. All she had to do was unsheathe the blade and see if it transformed when she called out its name.

It didn't. So, she was to take the blade and keep it with her as if it were a newborn baby.

Hmph... as if she knew how to treat a newborn baby!

She knew this, yet she also knew that there was no way to go about solving the problem without blowing her cover, and nobody needed to know that she was actually not supposed to have been able to get inside the Shakonmaku or the Seireitei at all. So, here she was, stuck with a blade which did not respond to the name Tiburón. She sighed in frustration. _'Great...'_ she thought sarcastically.

Suddenly, she heard noise outside. She listened, and she heard... the shouts of a crowd gathering. Her first reaction was to be worried about why; so, with a grunt, she rolled off the bed and landed on her feet. She then walked slowly over to the balcony, Asauchi in hand.

She now stood on the balcony and looked down to notice that all the commotion was stemming from Ichigo and some group of people that looked strong. Then again, the strongest people she's ever noticed were Kaien, Ichigo, and her three Arrancar friends, and even then she knew she hadn't seen what they were truly capable of. She could have paid attention to what they were saying, but she was busy debating in her head what she should do from this point since this was entirely new to her. She had familiarized herself with the sealed Hollow powers of her original Zanpakutō (which was still in her possession, just separate) and with how to use her regular Hollow powers (such as Cero and Bala), but she had yet to understand just what this "Asauchi" in her hand really was.

"Hainawa."

Hearing this, she looked down to notice that little ropes of light had coiled around the entirety of the large group that was threatening Ichigo earlier. She could tell, judging by their struggling, that these were keeping these people in place, binding them. Seeing such a display caused her to look around for its source. She spotted Ichigo walking away from the scene towards Kaien and another student. This gave her an idea.

 _'Hmm...'_ she thought, ' _perhaps Ichigo can help me. It seemed to work when Kaien went to him...'_

"Um... hi there."

A sudden voice behind her caused Harribel to look behind her to see who spoke. What she saw was a pink-haired woman, appearing to be about her own age, with green eyes and a one-striped Academy uniform; a first-year student, it would appear. She seemed to be a quiet person, at least.

"Who are you?" Harribel asked cautiously.

"Oh, I'm your roommate. My name's Meninas. And you are...?"

"Tier Harribel," Harribel introduced.

The girl smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Harribel noted.

And they stayed silent for a while. Frankly, it would be more accurate to say that neither of them had anything they really wanted to say.

Either way, Harribel eventually settled back onto her own bed once the sky was dark, holding her Asauchi, while Meninas silently did the same.

They were lying there for a couple hours when Harribel turned in her bed and noticed that her new roommate was lying on her side, eyes wide open and staring at Harribel.

Harribel stared back for a while. The room was dark now, but the full moon's light was enough to show Harribel what she needed to know; her roommate was not asleep... or was somehow able to sleep with her eyes open like that, which would be kinda creepy.

"...You can't sleep, can you?" Harribel asked.

"Sorry. I just... I miss my home. My... sisters were always so crazy, but they were at least a diversion. Without them, this is kind of quiet. I just need to get used to it, that's all," she confessed.

Something about these words made Harribel think. ' _Sisters, huh?_ ' She could practically _see_ her "sisters": Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila Rose. They were the closest to family she had ever had.

Before, of course, _he_ completely broke her normal pattern from what it was in Hueco Mundo.

But that's besides the point.

"What about you, Harribel? Do you have anyone to look forward to meeting again after the Academy?" Meninas asked.

Harribel turned to lie on her back. She took a deep breath.

"Yeah. My friends from the neighborhood where we grew up," she answered.

Meninas smiled.

"That's good," she replied. Seeing that Harribel had closed her eyes, Meninas turned to lie on her back and did the same, wishing Harribel good night.

* * *

Ichigo, meanwhile, was already asleep, yet something was off to the external observer. It would appear that he was having a sort of bad dream from the scowl on his face, yet he seemed so unmoving you would think he was just a body that couldn't move on its own. You would think he was dead, yet he was clearly breathing.

Internally, however, he was kind of confused about what was happening. On one hand, he could tell he was seeing what he was seeing while he was asleep; yet this very fact told him that it couldn't have been an ordinary dream (after all, have you ever been aware of what you were dreaming about in the moment you were dreaming while asleep?) After realizing he was "dreaming" (for lack of a more fitting term), he realized that he could do more than just _see_. He could feel the objects around him, hear the voices of those around him, smell the aromas surrounding him; yet, it didn't seem to go both ways, and everything he could and did interact with showed no signs of having interacted with him. It was a weird feeling, he decided, to be able to know that you are pushing on something and yet sense no movement; not in the same manner as trying to push on a wall, but it seemed more like he wasn't even pushing at all, even though he could feel his own muscles exerting effort. When he wondered if this was a lucid dream (which caused him to inadvertently realize he was capable of conscious thought), he could not control what was happening, only witness it. And that was another thing: he was not seeing one scene where something was playing out; rather, he was seeing what appeared to be "flashes" of scenes, or perhaps longer, where there was a single thing that was easier to focus on than the surroundings, and everything was frozen to be exactly one picture.

First, he was in a forest, apparently standing behind a tree and staring around it, spying on two figures talking on a picnic blanket. One of them he could recognize as Kaien, both by seeing his familiar face and by his sunny, cheerful voice. The black-haired woman next to him, however, was someone he didn't know. They were both laughing happily, cheerfully; it seemed that their faces were frozen in their laughing faces, yet he could still hear them laughing. The woman appeared to be a little older than Kaien; her hair was short and black and she had a petite form. She was sitting on the blanket with her knees up to her chest, garbed in red Academy uniform pants and a white Academy uniform top that had three stripes running down the arms. Her face, frozen with amusement, appeared to be one of amused yet held-back laughter. Kaien, on the other hand, was sitting cross-legged, wearing a three-striped Academy uniform top and blue Academy uniform pants to match the blue stripes of his top. He appeared to be laughing almost like a little kid, not in the least holding any form of movement back. The scene suddenly changed in a white flash, showing the two of them no longer laughing, their food forgotten.

They were kissing.

And he could hear a solitary sentence that echoed throughout his range of hearing: " _I love you, Kaien._ "

After hearing that he blinked. ' _Did I hear that right?_ ' he wondered. But before he had time to wonder whether that girl was the wife of Kaien's that Rukia had spoken so highly of, he spotted a new figure standing behind them in his field of vision. It appeared human, yet he had a visible white mask over his face in the shape of the head of a hammerhead shark. He could sense that he felt dread and concern, though the reason of why was admittedly unknown; Kaien should have been able to kill that Hollow... no, wait... that _Arrancar._

Then, abruptly (for him, at least; he was still stunned to see someone he knew kissing someone in this situation), he saw a flash of a different scenario that he could still recall very easily: he was standing in what appeared to be a dead end in the Seireitei (he had seen plenty of those the first time he was here), surrounded by four familiar faces and one unfamiliar one. He felt... cornered, for some reason; yet, he could not pick up on what it could have possibly been that he felt cornered about. In fact, he had no idea why he was out in the Seireitei when all five of the girls in front of him and he himself were clearly still wearing Academy uniforms. The only clear thing about this flash of a "dream" was that he could recognize the four familiar faces from before the Century War: Meninas McAllon, Liltotto Lamperd, Candice Catnipp, and Giselle Gewelle. At the very least, he had first seen the four of them when he came down from the Soul King Palace the first time. Plus, he knew Liltotto and Giselle a little more, considering they and Bazz-B had decided to help them in the Thousand-Year Blood War. He could see that he was literally standing in the corner of the dead end while Meninas, Liltotto, Candice, and the one he didn't know were standing around him (Giselle was looking over the shoulder of the stranger). Liltotto appeared curious, as she was staring at him with no real emotion other than the look of someone trying to puzzle through something or the look of one who is staring and waiting for something new to show itself. Meninas was similarly staring at him; however, her face took on more of a threatening glare and a hint of the face a sentry watch makes while he is staring down someone stupid enough to try to get past him while going through his line of sight. Candice was not simply staring at him; she was glaring at him, almost like he had offended her with a truth she was too afraid to admit, which, if that was the case with this situation, would explain the slight hurt that shown through her eyes. Giselle was staring over the stranger's shoulder, not showing any form of perkiness like Ichigo could remember; rather, she was showing a naïvely curious face, like that of a child looking around the man in front of her to see what she has never seen before. And the black-haired stranger appeared to be the one talking to him of the five of them; she remained stoic in face but commanding in voice and she was the only one with her mouth open at all.

She asked, " _Who are you really, Shiba Ichigo?_ "

Before he could answer, the scene shifted again in a flash. Now, he was standing over a familiar fourth-year who was lying on the ground (was his name "Sushi"? Ichigo couldn't remember). He appeared to be very beaten up; there were bruises on his arm about the size of his fist. He seemed to be the very same guy he had just tied up; he had the same black hair, the same large build, the same perpetual scowl...

In this scene, Ichigo was apparently helping him up, which Ichigo could see from looking down and seeing his own hand reaching down to... well, help the guy up. " _*grunt* Ah, thanks, Shiba-gaki. But why did you help me up?_ " he was saying. That girl he just met was there too... Mira was her name, Ichigo remembered. She was looking down at Sushi, apparently concerned.

It rather pained him to see _her_ face again at the _Academy_ of all places...

' _Matsumoto..._ '

That was the last coherent thought he had before the scene flashed once more; this time, he was apparently looking upwards to the sky. It was night, and there were so few stars and clouds in the sky.

' _Wait... are those... Hollows? No, wait... they're too powerful to be simple Hollows!_ ' he thought.

Indeed, they were Menos-class Hollows. Just so it's clear, those "stars" were actually gaps between the Hollows, where daylight shone through. To clarify the scene in general, what he was looking at was just plain terrifying.

The day sky was almost completely blocked out by Gillians and Adjuchas Hollows such that it appeared to be nighttime.

He brought his gaze down to look at his surroundings. He recognized the front of the Academy building, so he discerned that he was standing in front of the school (yeah, no crap, Sherlock). Looking around, he noticed familiar faces all around: Kaien and that girl he saw with him earlier, the five girls that had cornered him, Harribel and her Fracciónes, Mira and Sushi (he was almost _positive_ that was his name), the Headmaster and Kiyone, as well as Sentarō and Ukitake.

And, following all their gazes (for they were all looking to the same place), he saw Yoruichi's face on a younger, less developed body, and she was _not_ in a good situation.

Well, "not good" being true unless you like being held hostage upside-down, bound, and gagged by an incomplete, hammer-headed Arrancar.

And, yes, he knew what an incomplete Arrancar looked like, and this was one such Hollow.

The last thing he noticed before the scene flickered on him again was his wardrobe changing as he heard his own voice calling out one word: " _Ban...kai..._ " which echoed as the scene left his eyes, replaced only with a Garganta-like darkness.

 _Ichigo... wake up..._

His eyes widened. That voice... it was not one he consciously recognized, but... he _felt_ as if he knew who it was.

 _'Soul King...?'_

Suddenly, his eyes opened to a familiar sky; in his field of view, clouds were moving horizontally and the buildings in his vision did not align with how gravity normally is.

"My inner world, huh? So, what did you want to talk to me about, Old Man Zangetsu?"

He hadn't even had to turn his head to know that the imposing old man was standing about five meters away, nor did the old man hesitate in replying.

" _I will speak from the point: you are not the only Quincy within the Soul Reaper Academy,_ " he stated candidly.

"Huh?" Ichigo grunted in confusion. Then he breathed in realization, "Oh yeah. Now that you mention it, I did sense something like that today from a few students."

" _That was yesterday, Ichigo,_ " the old man pointed out.

"Oh. Does that mean I actually fell asleep from the point Mira suffocated me like that?" he asked.

" _Yes,_ " the old man answered.

"And I think that dream had something to do with me staying asleep; being knocked out wouldn't ordinarily keep one asleep like that, and it was a very odd dream... What do you think, Old Man?" Ichigo asked.

No response.

Here, he turned his gaze to the old man, who was clearly worried. Of course, he _seemed_ passive, usually portraying no emotion, but he was actually slouching slightly, and Ichigo could sense through Old Man Zangetsu's Reiatsu that he was worried.

"Old Man?" Ichigo asked.

" _Ichigo, that was not simply a dream._ "

"Huh? What do you mean? And how can you tell?" Ichigo asked.

The old man closed his eyes. " _Indeed. I only have a feeling, deep within, telling me that it is no ordinary dream, but I do not know what it could truly be if not a dream. I will have to look into it more. In the meantime, wake up,_ " he explained.

"Huh? But that's such a small explanation!" Ichigo protested.

" _I do not have a proper explanation. I am not sure of what this incident was myself. However, I cannot keep you here; you must wake up... wake up... wake up..._ " his voice echoed; the world dissolved into black.

Then he could hear shouting above him.

"Ichigo! Wake up!"

'...Kaien?'

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide when he felt a hand slam into his cheek at the palm, making him roll out of the bed and onto the hardwood floor face-first.

It took him a minute to realize he was on the floor, and when he did, he practically _leaped_ off the ground and leveled a comical glare at Kaien.

"What was that for?" he shouted.

Kaien merely huffed and crossed his arms. "You wouldn't get up. I had to try _something_ ," he explained.

"I was awake when you yelled in my ear," Ichigo argued.

"They why didn't you get up?" Kaien shot back.

"Why did you _slap_ me to get me to get up?" Ichigo asked, changing the subject.

"Well-Hey! Don't go changing the subject!" Kaien shouted.

"Fine, fine. I was groggy. Now why did you _slap_ me?" Ichigo answered.

"*sigh* Because it's morning and you wouldn't get up," he answered.

Now Ichigo sighed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So, we're back to this, huh?" he asked.

"What? You heard the Headmaster yesterday; we have classes," Kaien told him.

"Right, right," Ichigo grunted, calming down.

And, with that, he got his Zanpakutō and stuck it on his back diagonally, freshened up (hey, Souls can still have hygiene problems; just ask Kenpachi's doctor...), and walked out the door right after Kaien, straight into the courtyard, where they found Harribel waiting next to one of the trees.

::::::::::::::::::::

Whew! Glad I decided to split what I had originally planned to make this chapter into 2 chapters! Next one is coming up! Cheers (that also means "Bye!").


	5. Chapter 4: The Future is Dark Enough

Yo! So, I went back and updated all the other chapters. I added the characters I didn't know how to add before (like "ō") and changed the writing up a little so it wasn't so confusing. All you need to know is that Kaien received his Asauchi after 30 years of training. That may not have been clear the first time around. Also, Hakuda is technically a martial art invented by Yamamoto and improved over the years; the part about channeling Reiatsu around your limbs is only the power aspect of it.

These changes have been made in previous chapters to reflect this.

And I can only say "sorry" about how long this update took. I blame writer's block (and school).

Disclaimer: Yeah, so, if you think I own Bleach, you need to go read the past _4_ disclaimers I put into this story. I'm fairly sure I don't get royalty checks for a popular manga/anime I didn't create (I don't even get _junk_ mail, which is kinda pathetic when you think about it).

Also, sorry for those of you who saw a Fairy Tail chapter here... I didn't notice that... Oh, come on! It was 2 in the morning for Pete's sake! Either way, here's the 'actual' chapter 4

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If one were to stare at the shadows of the Seireitei...

Well, unless they're schizophrenic, they would just see the shadows on the ground. Honestly, there really wasn't anything special about them.

However, only a handful of people inside the Seireitei knew the secret those shadows held, one of them being Ichigo. As he walked out into the courtyard with Kaien, he saw the shadow of a tree off to the side of his path. Remembering such a secret, he stopped walking and stared at the shadow, too pensive to really _see_ it, if you will. He was only pulled out of his daze by Kaien tapping him on the shoulder (and, subsequently, he stopped thinking about it altogether when Kaien made a crack about him not getting enough sleep even though he was literally knocked out).

Meanwhile, connected to the Seireitei via said secret was the Wandenreich, refuge for the "holy" human Quincies, home of the Quincy army, the Sternritter, and the place where the King of the Quincies, Yhwach, sits on his throne (the _actual_ throne, mind you)... during the day. However, at night, i.e. when he's asleep, he does not rule over Quincies. What he _does_ do is gather his power by absorbing souls; if he didn't he would become dead while living at the same time, which isn't fun.

So, what does the king dream about?

Well, since you've probably never seen visions of the future, here's the basics: At night, Yhwach cannot deactivate his precognitive ability; it's only fair since this is when he tries not to lose all his senses and awareness, so he _has_ to go full power while absorbing souls. What he _can_ do is control just _when_ he is seeing; to be precise, he can control the time period he sees. As such, you can bet he has taken advantage of that, being the prudent man he is.

However, recently, it would seem there has been a problem...

Right now, he has just opened his eyes, his power of foresight deactivating of his will. He sat up and looked around; the man he was looking for was standing outside the closed door (he could easily recognize a familiar Reiatsu like that). Standing up, he put on some proper clothing (because His Majesty could sleep any way he wants *eye roll*) and walked outside. He turned his head to address the man next to him.

"Haschwalth," he greeted with a nod.

The white-haired Sternritter (leader, who else?) bowed to the king. "Good morning, your Majesty. Shall I do anything this morning for you?" he asked.

"Stand, Haschwalth," Yhwach commanded, which said attendant eagerly complied with. "And prepare us a pot of tea and pour each of us a cup - I need to have a talk with my 'other half,' if you understand my meaning. I shall clean myself and meet with you here in my room," he added.

Said man nodded in affirmation and proceeded to walk away.

"Oh, and Haschwalth?" the king asked. Said man turned his head, brushing his long white hair out of his face. Yhwach finished with, "make sure you get the good tea; I believe we will have a... unique conversation this morning."

Haschwalth stared at his ruler for a moment before nodding and verbally acknowledging his agreement.

After the king had freshened up for the day in the bathroom across the hall, he walked back into his room, finding everything as he had expected. At the cherry wood table in the center of his room sat his second-in-command Jugram Haschwalth, a cup of tea sitting on the table in front of him; there was an identical cup sitting at the place opposite his on the table. Steam was pouring out of the spout of the tea pot in the center of the table. Yhwach took the seat and thanked Jugram for making the tea, taking a sip and remaining quiet for a minute. It appeared that Jugram usually let Yhwach speak first in these types of conversations.

Finally, the brown-haired man spoke. "Haschwalth, have you tried to see the future recently?"

Haschwalth's eyes portrayed his confusion, but he otherwise seemed unfazed by the question. "Yes, Your Majesty; there was something odd happening and I could not understand it; I was going to ask you when I had the chance since it was your power to begin with," he answered dutifully.

"Please describe what it is that you found so odd," Yhwach commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Well... to put it simply, it felt as if there were certain things I could not see; when I tried to see them, all I saw was darkness. When I was in the middle of one view of the future, I was sometimes subject to partial blindness or deafness the moment something happened; the reason for this momentary disablement, I have not been able to figure out, but it appears to do with one... thing. I could not discern whether it was a person or just an event, nor have I been able to uncover the identity of said person or event. This started happening with certain events since a week ago. These events I was trying to view had to do with the Seireitei's Soul Reaper Academy," Haschwalth explained.

"Hmm... that is very troubling..." Yhwach noted, taking another sip of tea.

"Your Majesty?" Haschwalth asked.

Yhwach put his cup down gently on the table. "I too have been experiencing these very same problems. This merely confirms my suspicions; there is something within the Seireitei that is preventing us from seeing certain events. Please describe for me what it was you were trying to see, Haschwalth," he requested.

Haschwalth closed his eyes. "Yes, well... One such memory I have of this happening was of the impending invasion of the Hollows to come later this year. I knew they were going to invade the Soul Reaper Academy when I witnessed their meeting in Hueco Mundo, but when I tried to view the actual invasion, there was one area of the vision that was shrouded in darkness. I could clearly see Yoruichi Shihōin being held upside down by an incomplete hammer-headed Arrancar; I could see all the students staring at said Arrancar alongside Squad 13 Captain Ukitake Jūshirō and his third seats, as well as the Headmaster; I could see those... special cases we discussed years ago, but I could not see this one region of space next to Ukitake; in addition, I had become unable to hear any sounds. I believe that a person is supposed to be there in our visions, yet doesn't appear for some reason. If I may add in my opinion..." - the king nodded his consent - "... I am worried by this," Haschwalth explained.

"Hmm... this is the same as the vision I had just before I woke up. Tell me, how did you notice that you had gone deaf?" His Brown-Hair-Headed-Ness asked.

"There were shouts in the background up until I looked at the dark space," Haschwalth explained.

Yhwach took another sip of his tea. "So we both have seen these strange occurrences. Very well. We shall simply wait for the reports and see what comes of it," he asserted.

"'Reports'?" Haschwalth asked, now tilting his head sideways; clearly, he didn't have a reason to hide his confusion.

"Yes," Yhwach affirmed, putting his cup down, "'reports.' You may have noticed already from the visions, but I have already sent five Sternritter to the Soul Reaper Academy as spies."

Haschwalth's eyes widened. "So _that's_ why I was seeing those five in the visions." he realized.

Yhwach merely smiled, although whether it was at his subordinates subtle antics or something much more deep-rooted, none could say, not even his "other half."

* * *

Kaien was walking alone down the hall, having just parted ways with Ichigo and Harribel at the Shigekuni Courtyard (they were no longer cleaning it up from yesterday's gang incident), who apparently had their Hohō Gym class together while he had _this_ class...

Kidō...

Sure, he wasn't too shabby with Kidō; he could perform high-level spells without incantation, something he learned from thirty years of being trained by Ichigo (combined with a very adorable metaphor from his little sister and brother involving getting distracted when lighting a firework; they had to shove Ganju into a nearby stream after he had "caught on," if you catch my meaning...). He just preferred fighting with his Zanpakutō; after all, which would you choose to wear given a choice: a standardized glove that came one-size-fits-all or a glove specifically tailored to you (and expertly so)? Such was the same with his Zanpakutō; he would rather fight alongside his Zanpakutō (who was someone he had the capability to _understand_ ) than use a Kidō spell (because, of course, where's the fun in blasting your opponent with exploding balls of fire when these fireballs can't talk to you?).

(But, where, you may ask, did he grow to have such an understanding of Zanpakutō? Well, the whole week after he got his special birthday present, he recalled, Ichigo drilled it into his head just what a Zanpakutō spirit was to its wielder. He also "tested" him by seeing how well he could fight with a new Shikai that he only just saw recently. Just a side note, okay?).

' _Oh, Kaien, you sweet boy. Thank you for choosing me over your own Reiatsu,_ ' she heard his Zanpakutō joking in his inner world.

'Don't mention it, Nejibana. After all, where's the fun without talking fireballs?' he joked back.

He nearly stopped walking (but didn't) when he heard her laugh and then ask, "So I'm not fun unless I'm a talking fireball, huh? Good to know."

He smiled inwardly at her (he had learned how to do so over the week of Zanpakutō training). 'You just have to be you, fun or not. Besides, part of your Reiatsu _is_ my Reiatsu, even though your power can snuff _out_ flames,' he answered her.

He heard no reply as he turned to exit the building onto the Kidō Practice Field, but he could tell she was smiling again.

He focused in on his classmates. He was in the advanced class, so most of his classmates were Nobles, and he had already met a few; Yoruichi Shihōin (she was good friends with Kaien's sister, in case you forgot), Kuchiki Sōjun (the son of Kuchiki Ginrei, who was a captain at this time), Shinohara Mira (remember her? She who said she had the same classes as Kaien, then joked that she was kidding?), and a non-Noble named Urahara Kisuke (he was good friends with Yoruichi). However, he only got to meet the people who came up to him; with Kaien being one of the members of one of the Five Great Noble Families, a lot of the lesser Nobles avoided him for whatever reasons they had, which usually were fear or jealousy at their base. Naturally, however, Kaien wasn't paying attention to those people; he had to pay attention on the first two days of school. They were introductory days, after all; he learned more about just what class he found himself in: the Advanced Kidō class. However, there was indeed something new he noticed today: there were no cushions to sit on today.

'So, the introductory days are over, huh?' Kaien wondered.

Suddenly, his staring off into space focused in on someone that definitely wasn't just space.

He saw a pretty woman sitting there, staring at him. She had long, straight black hair that went down to just below her shoulders, and pretty brown eyes.

Well, they would've been pretty, if he could have seen them through her sneering.

Then he realized with confusion: 'Someone I don't know is mad at me? Is this what happens to Clan Heads?'

' _It's a possibility_ ,' Nejibana noted.

The girl clearly noticed him staring and stopped sneering. Her eyes, however, remained cold. Likewise, the blonde girl next to her did the same, as did the other four girls sitting around them.

So Kaien chose to talk to the girls who were just looking at him like he burned down their houses over the people he already knew. Good going, Kaien.

He walked over to them, not bothering to sit down. "Hey," he greeted.

"Good morning," she greeted stiffly.

This made Kaien slightly wince. 'So she _is_ mad at me...' he noted.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Ayame Miyako," she stated stoically.

"I'm Kaien Shiba," he said back.

"I know. We've been in the same class for two days," she deadpanned.

Kaien cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yes, well... I was busy paying attention to what the teacher was saying," he explained, rubbing the back of his head.

"Right," Miyako stated sarcastically.

Kaien stopped rubbing his head and was quiet for a minute. Finally, to break said awkward silence and keep the conversation going, he asked, "So, who is this lady next to you?" he asked.

Miyako just huffed in what Kaien guessed to be expected annoyance, but said lady answered stiffly with, "Candice Catnipp. Now leave, please; we don't talk to the Five Great Noble Families."

Kaien, feeling a small storm of emotions, hesitated for a second, looking at Miyako who merely looked away (which the other girls mimicked), before finally sighing and getting up, leaving them with, "See you later, I guess."

He walked around to find one of the people he knew; and, luckily, he found Yoruichi, Urahara, and a new guy. First, a description of each person: Yoruichi was a tall, slender, well-endowed (it seems rather standard for anime, dont'cha think?) woman with purple hair that went down to her chin on the back of her head, as well as yellow eyes. Urahara was a little shorter, his sandy blonde hair curling at his ears, and his pale skin showing that he clearly didn't get out much. The newcomer seemed a bit odd; he was tall, well-built, tanned, and glare shone off the lenses of his glasses, hiding his eyes. There was a handlebar mustache smack in the middle of his face, but, other than that, he seemed young. If Kaien had to put a word on it, he would call it bold (I would call it "folksy" because I'm from the 21st century). They were all wearing the standard Academy uniform, with respective colors for their respective genders.

Yoruichi smiled when she noticed Kaien. "Yo, Kaien! How's Kūkaku been?"

"Hey, Yoruichi, Urahara. Kūkaku's been well. She's gotten much better at making fireworks," Kaien answered.

Yoruichi laughed. "She hasn't set anything on fire yet, has she?" she asked bemusedly.

"Other than Ganju, no," Kaien answered, eliciting another fit of laughs from Yoruichi (not _giggles_ ; laughs).

Once she calmed down, Urahara spoke up. "I don't think you've met Tessai yet, have you?" he asked.

"No, I haven't met him yet. Hey there. I'm Shiba Kaien," Kaien greeted, smiling.

"Greetings. I am Tsukabishi Tessai. Nice to meet you," he said robotically.

"Likewise," Kaien said calmly, extending his hand for a handshake, which Tessai took.

Yoruichi and Urahara shared a look before looking at Kaien. Yoruichi spoke next. "You seem... calm today, Kaien. Is something wrong? You weren't this quiet 15 years ago..." she asked.

"Ah, really? Sorry about that. I just met someone who doesn't like me-"

"I do not dislike you," Tessai jumped in, literally getting in Kaien's face.

Kaien jumped back. "Gah! No, I wasn't talking about you, Tessai!" he yelped. Once said man had backed up a little, he continued, "No, I was referring to _her_. I saw her staring at me like I just killed her beloved family or something," he stated, jerking his thumb in the direction of the two women who were talking with each other. "Then I went to talk to her and she wouldn't really talk to me," he added.

Yoruichi stared around Kaien's head to see who he was pointing at. "Ah, her. Yeah, I tried talking to her too, but she wouldn't really talk to me either. All she told me was that she didn't like oranges before she shooed me away because I'm from the Shihōin clan," she stated.

"Huh, really? She wouldn't even talk to me except for short answers to my questions, and it was her blonde friend that shooed me away because I'm from one of the Five Great Noble Families," Kaien answered.

Yoruichi blinked. "Wow. What did you do to her?" she teased.

"Wha-? I didn't do anything wrong to her! I didn't even know her name until two minutes ago!" Kaien answered indignantly.

Yoruichi went on another laughing tirade. "Oh, man, that face is _rich!_ " she laughed. Then, once she calmed down for a bit, she wondered, "But, still, I have no idea why she could be that mad at you even though you just met her. Is it something you said?"

"Probably not, unless asking for a name counts as offensive. Although I did say that I didn't really notice her for the first two days because I was paying attention to the teacher. Is that offensive?" Kaien answered. Yoruichi facepalmed at this, shaking her head. "What?" Kaien asked.

"Kaien... If you didn't notice someone, would you tell them that?" she asked tensely.

"N-No, I guess not," Kaien stuttered.

"Exactly. Plus, you _never_ tell a woman you didn't notice her. Take it from me; telling me you didn't notice me is like asking to get a helping of pain one way or another," Yoruichi scolded.

"Right. Kūkaku told me this already," Kaien answered with a self-annoyed smack to his own head.

"So, what are you going to do?" Yoruichi asked.

"Well, I'm thinking I should go over to her and apologize," Kaien answered.

"Good," Yoruichi answered.

"Umm... You might have to wait a little for that. That's Sarumori-sensei over there," Urahara said, pointing to a woman who just entered the classroom.

"Oh. Right," Kaien answered, sounding disappointed.

"Alright, everyone. Get into your groups!" she called out.

Immediately, everyone was moving around. Urahara and Tessai moved to one side of the field, and Yoruichi left to find her own group. That left Kaien to wait for his group, which happened to contain Miyako and Candice. He mentally slapped himself. 'How did I miss that?' he wondered.

' _Well, Kaien, you_ were _busy taking mental notes... I had to snap at you a couple times to pay attention, remember?_ ' Nejibana reminded him.

Once everyone was lined up, it appeared as follows: there were ten lines of people across the field, with Miyako, Yoruichi, Mira, and Urahara heading four of the lines while Tessai was behind Urahara and Kaien was behind Candice, who was behind Miyako. During the commotion, three masked men with the symbol of the Kidō Corps had walked out to the field and was now crouching in the space in front of them. The teacher was standing in front of them.

"Okay, everyone. Today is our 'Demonstrate Your Knowledge' day. Here, you will each demonstrate the Kidō spell you know best. Anything goes as long as you don't injure yourself or use any of the forbidden Kidō spells. Additionally, due to an incident from last year, we will be practicing one at a time and inside this newly-devised barrier, courtesy of the Kidō Corps," she explained, with Mira blushing a little in embarrassment. Turning, the sensei nodded to the masked officers, and they made a hand seal each and placed their hands on the ground, and a green cylinder of light materialized on the field. "In this barrier, the flow of Reiatsu is visible on the barrier itself, as well as the density of the spell when it hits the barrier. I will demonstrate," she said. She walked to the inside of the barrier (which was at least wide enough to cover half a football field), leaving a yellow outline where she passed through, which faded soon after. She turned so that she was slightly facing the students and held her palm up so that it was pointed to the fence on the edge of the field. There was a log standing up inside the barrier, but she didn't aim at that; she aimed at the barrier itself.

"Hadō 31: Shakkahō!" she called out. The red cannonball of energy formed quickly and hit the barrier with much force, and she didn't hesitate or mess up. The students could see a big orange circle on the barrier where the ball hit the wall while, during the short duration in which she had called out the spell, there was a swirl of yellow appearing on the wall of the barrier corresponding to where her hand had been; this swirl was still present, if fading. She pointed to the swirl and the circle. "...And that is how the barrier works," she concluded, walking outside of the barrier. The students applauded.

Once the applause died down, she stated, "Okay, Group 1, you start!" In other words, Mira was up first. She walked inside the barrier and pointed two fingers at the wall of the barrier. Observers could see a small swirl of light before it formed into a mini cube of sorts.

"Hadō 1: Shō!" she called out. It immediately hit the barrier, leaving a yellowish-orange square on the barrier.

"Good job, Miss..." the teacher called.

"Shinohara Mira," Mira stated, walking outside the barrier and waiting back in her group.

"Shinohara-san, I remember you. That was a much better Shō than last year," she remarked calmly, smiling. The students laughed, causing Mira to blush again.

And people kept going, most of them performing Shakkahō with the incantation. Only a few were notable mentions, really.

In order, the first one of these was Urahara, in group 3. He was holding his fingers out towards the log, and one could see the red chain forming with his moving fingers. "Bakudō 63: Sajō Sabaku," he called out calmly, the chain that was formed by his fingers moving to coil around the log. It remained there for a minute, then disappeared, showing large indents in the shape of the chain.

"Excellent, Urahara-san. Did you modify an ordinary Sajō Sabaku?" the teacher asked.

"Uh, actually, I have no idea what happened with that one... I must have lost control or something... I'll study it later, I guess..." he answered, rubbing the back of his head and trailing off as he walked back to his group.

"Oh... uh, next!" the teacher called out awkwardly.

After him was Tessai. He pointed his hand at the barrier. "Hado 31: Shakkahō!" he called out. An enormous pyramid of energy formed a pillar as it shot to the other side of the barrier, leaving a giant yellow square.

"Brilliant Shakkahō, Tsukabishi-san. You modified the shape?" Sarumori-sensei asked.

"Yes. I also tried to add a shrapnel effect, but it didn't register on the barrier, it seems," he answered.

"Oh. Well, there're some new holes on the log," she argued.

He looked at the log. "Hmm. You're right," he noted, before leaving the barrier.

Next familiar one up was Yoruichi. She pointed her fingers at the log. "Hadō 63: Raikōhō!" she called out. The lightning ball promptly burst forth, left a flaming hole at the top of the log that went out quickly, and put a bright orange circle on the barrier, with a few flecks of yellow outside of said circle where the lightning had arced outward.

"Good," the teacher announced.

The next notable mention was Miyako (and not because she was secretly some Kidō expert in disguise). She stepped into the barrier and faced her palm out.

"Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, he who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march onto the south! Hadō 31: Shakkahō!"

Then the orb which students could clearly see forming both inside and on the surface of the barrier suddenly seemed to split before exploding promptly into her face, the upright-standing log tipping over.

"You will need to work on that one, Ayame-san. Nobody only learns after being taught once," the teacher deadpanned.

Last notable one up was Kaien (after a brilliant Raikōhō with chant from Candice). He walked into the barrier and examined the log, putting his hand on his chin.

"Shiba-san, what are you doing?" the teacher asked.

"This'll work," he stated, ignoring her. He picked up the log (which was admittedly no taller or wider than a midget), with his hands at one end, and channeled Spirit Energy into it, which was visible on the barrier. Then he swung it in a tilted circle around him (kind of like Saturn's rings), forming a ring of energy.

"Zangerin," he called out. The ring then sped away from him in all directions, hitting the barrier and leaving a white ring all around before the barrier started cracking from the white ring. The barrier promptly shattered; the three Kidō Corps officers that were holding their hands to the ground to steadily maintain the barrier tipped backwards and sprawled on the ground, their hands behind them to support them. This being the most impressive one thus far, the students stared.

Finally, the teacher spoke. "Shiba-san, very... wow. I'm at a loss for words, honestly... in a good way. But why did you use the log for Zangerin? Aren't you supposed to use your sword?" she asked.

"Well... I guess I just wanted to show off...?" he stated, raising his inflection like one would a question.

The teacher raised her eyebrow while the students whispered among themselves. Finally, the teacher spoke, silencing the whispers. "Still, marvelous demonstration. You successfully used a high-level Kidō without incantation or a proper sword. Great job," she commented. Then she added, "Now go get us another log."

"Huh?" Kaien asked.

"Well, you _did_ just destroy our target dummy. It would be unfair to the remaining students if they didn't have the chance to use any Bakudō, don't you agree?" the teacher asked.

Kaien looked down and smiled sheepishly when he noticed that the log had become ashes slipping through his hands after he used Zangerin. He rubbed the back of his head, apologized, and Flash Stepped away to find another log while there were giggles and chuckles.

* * *

Meanwhile, Harribel and Ichigo were in _their_ first class of the day: Zanpakutō 101 and Connection, which was an advanced version of something similar to an elective; meaning that, if Zanpakutō 101 and Connection had a class for non-advanced students, this class they were in would be the advanced-class version; they chose it because, while Ichigo had a clear understanding of Zanpakutō, Harribel did not (and Ichigo knew he couldn't keep manifesting her physical body if they were far from each other and doing different things). The advice she received did not appear to help much, as she still seemed confused when they had talked about it on the way here. Judging from the comments from the other students they had passed, Zanpakutō 101 was considered a sign that the gods were making sure you succeeded in life (this, of course, is ridiculously hyperbolic; some of the _other_ students said it was boring as hell), mainly because it was seen as the easiest class in school.

That aside, she had asked before that why he would not allow Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila Rose to join her while she was learning here. At this, Ichigo sighed and answered, "Geez, it would be faster to ask why I _would_ allow it. First off, the girls argue all the time, and, unless they can learn to cut it out when they need to pay attention, they would be suspicious from the moment they started arguing. Second, their... _special_ _accessories_ would be hard to hide; yours can be hidden simply with modest enough clothing, while theirs are all so conspicuous it would take an idiot not to notice it. Third, they can easily learn everything being taught here from Zangetsu, Benihime, or Hōgyoku - that's four different teachers; add in the fact that one of them specializes in Zanjutsu and Hollow techniques, and one is a Kidō master _and_ has the ability to make them each a _special_ new sword," he explained, gesturing to his sealed Zanpakutō swords. All Harribel could say after that was "point taken."

Now, however, seeing as they were done with the introductory period of classes, they started meditating. Everyone in the class was a Noble except for Harribel (remember, Ichigo is technically a Shiba). As such, since the (rather young-looking) teacher, Miyamura-sensei, was currently reading a book, he wasn't watching the Nobles sneer at Harribel (and, to a lesser extent, Ichigo) or hearing them whisper among themselves how "pathetic" they looked. Well, to be frank, these students seemed to be the ones that like to goof off in class instead of actually learning or working, not the whole class. A lot of the girls were gossiping about one topic or another (some of their gossip was about the teacher's good looks) while a lot of the guys were merely chatting about other things, like the incident with Shisu and a large group of students from all years being tied up by one guy (apparently, the rumor was that Shisu had the highest Reiatsu reserves of any student currently in the school... if only they knew...).

Currently, the classroom was like a concert in terms of noise (chaotic and loud) while it was like the lawless slums of a city that was financially flushed down the toilet (in that there was no supervision; the teacher just left). The only quiet ones were Ichigo and Harribel, and that was because they were already in their inner worlds.

When Ichigo first got there, he was greeted by a boot to the head... or a shoe, to be literal. After getting up (he was sprawled on the ground just now), he rubbed his head and opened his eye to find Apache glaring at him, with Mila Rose glaring right next to her and Sun-Sun staring from behind them.

"So, this is the greeting I get?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, what'd you expect? You thought we couldn't handle school! Don't forget that we still _remember_ going to school as humans!" Apache yelled.

"Well, of course Hollows remember their human lives; they were never memory-wiped with Konsō. Likewise, you _can't_ handle school. You would simply yell your way to being called 'unteachable' and then banned," Ichigo deadpanned.

"Shut up! In case you didn't know, we _are_ capable of paying attention when we need to!" Mila Rose huffed indignantly.

"...Hmm. Me more than you," Apache concurred smugly.

"What?! If anything, you _can't_ pay attention! You absolutely suck at it!" Mila Rose yelled at her.

"What?! What makes you think you have the right to say that, Miss Dyslexic?" Apache yelled back.

"'Miss Dyslexic'? If anything, dyslexia is a disability, not an attention problem. Also, I never had dyslexia. I could slice you up just fine. Easily, too," Mila Rose calmly corrected her.

"Huh?! You just went off topic, stupid! And you couldn't slice up an apple that was sitting on a table!" Apache yelled at her.

"Are you stupid?! You're the one who went off topic with that 'Miss Dyslexic' nonsense!" Mila Rose countered.

Meanwhile, Ichigo got up and stood next to Sun-Sun. Sun-Sun and Ichigo both sweat-dropped as they kept arguing. In unison, they sighed, "Why am I not surprised?" Then Ichigo added as an afterthought, "Well, at least their arguments sound more intellectual than the first time around."

"Hey, Ichigo," Sun-Sun said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"So, your Zanpakutō is a Hollow?" Sun-Sun asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"Yeah. Did you see the memory where my dad told me what happened?" Ichigo asked.

"No, not yet. How did that happen?" Sun-Sun asked.

"Well, Aizen was experimenting with Hollowfication. He tried making a Hollow from the Reishi of a dead Soul Reaper, and sent it to the World of the Living, to see how it would turn out. Then the Soul Reaper that went to deal with it-" Ichigo explained.

"-Was that your dad? I did see that he was a Soul Reaper," Sun-Sun asked.

"Yeah. My dad arrived to try and take it out. He was about to use his Bankai when a different enemy slashed him in the back, most likely Aizen. Then my mother arrived on the scene and took it out. She was a Quincy. After that, he thanked her and they parted ways. Then, she was nearly Hollowfied and my dad came and saved her from dying from the Hollowfication, at the cost of being a Soul Reaper. Needless to say, they fell in love after that, cheesy as it sounds," Ichigo finished.

"Wow... I really like that story," Sun-Sun said.

"You do? Why? And what's with the sudden interest?" Ichigo asked.

"She liiiiiiiiiiikes you," Apache and Mila Rose purred at the same time.

"H-Hey! Don't get me involved in your stupid arguments!" Sun-Sun asked.

"How are we getting you involved in _our_ arguments?" Mila Rose asked.

"Hah! You're not denying it, either!" Apache laughed.

"What? That is-" Sun-Sun stammered.

"So, you each have two Zanpakutō now, huh? Hōgyoku finally thought you were ready for an Asauchi?" Ichigo interrupted, breaking the tension.

"Y-Yeah. I got mine first," Sun-Sun stated, clearing her throat.

The quartet stayed as they were for a minute or two, with Sun-Sun and Ichigo engaging in genuinely intelligent conversation and Apache and Mila Rose engaging in intellectually stupid arguments (oxymorons abound for ox morons... or is Apache a deer? I kid).

Suddenly, Ichigo sensed the Reiatsu of Benihime, Hōgyoku, and Old Man Zangetsu off to their right. He and Sun-Sun turned to face them.

"Hey, you guys. What's up?" he asked.

"Ichigo, do you remember what I said before we got here?" she asked.

"I'm guessing by 'here' you mean the time-travel 'here,'" Ichigo stated.

"Well, we haven't had a chance to talk since far before the Academy, so... duh," Benihime sniped.

"Uh, let me think... Wait, is this about the part where you said you could... er, make replicas of the Zanpakutō of all my dead friends?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah. The first one is finally ready to meet you," she stated, stepping to her left. From behind her emerged a woman with purple hair that had curls pointing downward like a drill and an eyepatch, as well as an elegant black dress with a wide velvet-red trim, a golden skull adorning the front, and bright purple frills around the sleeves. Ichigo reached out with his Spirit Sense and analyzed her Reiatsu.

"You must be the replica of Kyōraku's Katen Kyōkotsu," Ichigo reasoned.

She smiled and nodded, but didn't speak.

"I've found that they don't have the ability to speak. Probably because they're different from us in that they're not genuine Asauchi-formed spirits, but spirits made by a Zanpakutō spirit. Apparently, they only serve you because they serve me," Benihime added.

"I see. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you anyway, Katen Kyōkotsu," Ichigo stated genially, reaching out to shake her hand. She shook her head and pulled a bottle of sake from the folds of her dress before holding it out to him.

"Ah, maybe later. Don't wanna be drunk in the middle of class. Sorry I'm not Kyōraku..." Ichigo declined.

Smiling in good humor, the mute woman stuck the bottle back where it came from.

"Also, Ichigo, there's something else you should know. I actually only recently discovered it myself," Benihime chimed in.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked calmly.

"Apparently, I figured out why it's a bad idea to give one guy two Asauchi," Benihime smiled.

"Really? Why is it bad then?" Ichigo asked.

"Well... the Asauchi merge and fight each other for dominance inside their inner world - you're familiar with Zanpakutō spirits enough, I presume to know what I am talking about?" - a quick nod from Ichigo- "Right. Well, either way, whoever wins stays as the dominant spirit... for the time being. However, the two Asauchi, while a single unit, do not share Reiatsu reserves even as developed Zanpakutō spirits inhabiting the same body. While the dominant one is helping their Soul Reaper, the submissive one can store its power. This inbalance in the Zanpakutō spirit's power would cause the dominance to shift sides. Then the cycle repeats. This cycle causes instability within the Zanpakutō spirit until something akin to Soul Suicide occurs... I think," Benihime explained.

"That makes sense. But I assume there's a reason for telling me this...?" Ichigo asked.

"I didn't have to fight Zangetsu for dominance because we both knew who your Zanpakutō spirit was. However, even as fully developed Zanpakutō, we will still merge eventually... or rather, our minds will form one unit, even if we remain physically separate," Benihime answered.

"Then that means..." Ichigo started.

"I will eventually have to become part of the group of Zanpakutō spirits that is Zangetsu; if you don't accept me, I may die," Benihime stated gravely.

"Huh? You would... die? How?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, if you don't accept me as part of Zangetsu, we're going to have to fight for dominance like any other Asauchi would. The difference between us, though, would be our Reiryoku. I would not have the ability to draw upon your power, while Zangetsu would; and Kisuke isn't here for me to draw upon his power. Thus, he would certainly outlast me even if we were on equal footing. Not to mention I may also have to fight Hōgyoku in that case..." Benihime explained.

"So, I should probably get used to using you, huh?" Ichigo wondered.

"Yes. Although that wording may need some work," Benihime smirked (for the first time in this conversation).

"...Wait, why would you have to fight Hōgyoku?" Ichigo asked.

"Simply because we'd both be fighting each other for dominance while also fighting Zangetsu," she answered.

"But you said that was with Asauchi-"

"Yes. Didn't she tell you?" Benihime asked. Ichigo turned to said spirit in askance.

" _ **I have not told you yet, Kurosaki Ichigo. I shall tell you now,**_ " Hōgyoku commented.

"Go ahead, please," Ichigo requested.

" ** _Are you aware of my true ability?_** " she asked.

"Yeah. You take in the Reiryoku around you in the world and increase the amount of Reiatsu their owners are putting out. The resulting draining effect this causes in people who use their Reiryoku eventually goes away. This means their Reiryoku has increased. It's kind of artificial, though; it makes someone more powerful, but it doesn't teach them control. This way, it seems to 'grant their deepest wish' by giving them power to achieve what they wish to achieve. It also gives them the obstacle of controlling their increased power," Ichigo explained.

" _ **Correct. Now, do you know how I am able to accomplish this?**_ " she asked.

"Not really. How do you do it?" Ichigo asked.

" _ **I take in that which makes me stronger; this includes the Reiryoku in the air, Reishi, Zanpakutō-**_ "

"Wait, what? 'Zanpakutō'?" Ichigo asked.

" _ **Yes, although I have only ever broken down and absorbed one Zanpakutō,**_ " Hōgyoku stated.

"You have? What was its name?" Ichigo asked.

" _ **Kyōka Suigetsu,**_ " she answered. Stunned silence followed.

Meanwhile, Harribel managed to succeed with entering her inner world for the first time in her life. She opened her eyes when she felt herself floating in water; to be precise, she was in a sea. The sea appeared to be an actual underwater ecosystem and not just some crappy imagining; there were actual fish and coral floating around. Likewise, she had instinctively unzipped her collar to breathe underwater.

" _So, you finally show up here,_ " a woman's voice came from behind her.

She turned around and her eyes widened (and that was harder to make her do now that she had been training with Zangetsu for the past thirty years). She was seeing a humanoid creature, one that was almost featureless; there was no face to truly speak of, except for the eyes, which were also completely bland. Aside from that, it appeared to be feminine if the voice (and, frankly, typical feminine anime body) were anything to go by. However, there was something covering her up: a white and blue shell that contoured around her curves and breasts and head and covered her entire body except for the eyes and a bald head, as well as a piscine tail and a spearhead-like sword attached to her left arm. Her jaw was like that of a shark's skeleton, covering her mouth, and there was a forehead-protecting shell in place that reached around the eyes, not blocking them but there all the same. In her right hand (the hand not covered by the attached sword), there was a short but wide-berthed sword that was open in the middle such that there was about a centimeter of blade from each edge.

It was Harribel's original Vasto Lorde form, minus the hair and the fact that the spearhead-sword was on the left instead of the right like it used to be.

"You-! Who are you?" Harribel asked.

" _I am still forming, but I know my identity. I am your Zanpakutō_ ," it answered, in its stoic feminine tone.

"You are? But... The name of my Zanpakutō was Tiburón, and you did not reply to that name," Harribel reasoned, replying in earnest.

" _There are three reasons for that. One, I was still forming; I had no power to give you, nor the knowledge to give you power. Two, my name is not Tiburón. Three, you cannot hear my true name; you do not know me well enough to know my name, or for me to lend you my power_ ," she answered (for, as she said that, long, messy white hair flowed out of the top of the head, now closely resembling Harribel as a Vasto Lorde. Therefore, "she", not "it").

"'Not your true name'? Please explain," Harribel requested.

" _Tiburón is the name you gave to the sword that was your compressed Hollow form; I am an Asauchi that wears that form now that there is a soul to fill it when you do not. I am not Tiburón; Tiburón is an empty shell that you wear when you call out its name, which is all the thousands of Hollows you consumed. I am merely growing a personality from the Reiryoku that makes this form_ ," the being explained.

"I see. What is your name, then?" Harribel asked.

An echoing wind sounded through the water; which Harribel knew to be impossible. In addition, it almost sounded like the voice; however, she could barely understand it.

"I cannot hear it," Harribel answered.

" _Unfortunate_ , _but it is as I have already stated,_ " the being stated before her eyes changed with a blink from the Zanpakutō. Rather than the blank white it was, it formed cyan pupils while the formerly pupil-less white sclera became black.

"You appear to be growing fast," Harribel commented, to change the subject, as she noticed eyebrows growing above the eyes.

" _From what I can gather from the Reiatsu of the few people who are talking with their Zanpakutō right now, I am growing slowly for an Asauchi; I am curious as to why,_ " the Zanpakutō noted.

"Perhaps it has something to do with my being a Hollow. I am likely the first Hollow to wield a Soul Reaper's Zanpakutō," Harribel reasoned.

" _Perhaps,_ " the spirit commented.

"Well, despite lacking a heart, I hope we can work together cooperatively, at least," Harribel noted.

" _Indeed. I agree_ ," the Zanpakutō affirmed.

With that, Harribel left her inner world the opposite of the way she came in; by taking her soul (her actual soul, not the spiritual body composed of Reishi; these are two different things) and pushing her soul to what felt like the Soul Society by anchoring it to her Zanpakutō spirit. This way, she could, in essence, move her consciousness (because that is technically what a soul is if you don't include the interactions between others) from her inner world (which was in her mind) to her spirit body (to be clear, the spirit brain may be different from the mindscape in terms of what they actually are, but they are still both the place where a person's personality is kept; the mindscape is a place everyone has in their mind, also called their "inner world," while a spirit brain is just the spirit body organ that resembles a human brain in functionality). She opened her eyes to find that it was still loud, and the teacher had just gotten back apparently, as he was trying to quiet them down. After a few minutes of waiting, she and Ichigo could finally make out what the teacher was saying and the last part of class began: the part where the students write on parchment about their experience being in their inner world, the last five or so minutes of class.

This did not seem like it would end well for the students who didn't work the entire hour they were supposed to be meditating...

* * *

"Well, that was a disaster..."

Kaien couldn't help but say that out loud; not only did he show off _too much_ in that class, but that also had the effect of making Miyako slap him the second he walked out the door (why this was, he didn't know; all she had answered him with was, "Because you hit on me." followed by a second slap). The slap stung, but what really got him was that the more he spoke to her, the more she seemed to hate him for no reason.

Kaien is a guy who doesn't appreciate being hated, especially for no reason; this trait is known as being human (which, no matter what a Soul would say, is still there when someone gets to Soul Society).

"I feel ya, kid."

Still walking, he turned his head to see a blonde second year smiling at him, walking in step with him, a sheathed sword on his shoulder.

"You do?" Kaien asked him.

"Yeah," he answered.

"But... do I know you?" Kaien asked in reply.

"Nope. I just noticed ya walking in from the Kidō field when that girl smacked ya," he answered.

"Ah. You saw that?" Kaien said.

"Even if I didn't see it, I woulda heard it," he grinned even wider. Then his grin shrunk again. "Now, what's your name, kid?"

"Shiba Kaien. And yours?" Kaien answered.

"Hirako Shinji," he answered, prompting Kaien to offer his hand. Kaien did not answer when Nejibana asked him, ' _Hey, didn't we just do that backwards?_ "

"So, Shinji-san, what's your next class?" Kaien asked.

"Ah, Career Prep. Not exactly fun. Oh yeah, you're in that class too," Shinji noted, pointing at Kaien.

"Okay, how come I didn't notice _you_ in that class? It's not like I took too many notes..." Kaien wondered, bewildered.

"I dunno. Does that happen often?" Shinji asked.

"For some reason, I keep meeting people I didn't notice at all in my classes, including Miyako," Kaien stated.

"'Miyako'? I'm guessing that's that girl that made ya land face first on the wood," Shinji guessed.

Kaien winced. "Yep. That's her." Then he put his hand to his chin. "Wait, that happened a while ago. Why are you only just coming up to me now?" he asked.

"Ah, I took the long way around," Shinji stated, grinning like a cat (a _cartoon_ cat).

"Oookay..." Kaien ground out awkwardly.

"Hey, it paid off. For one, I found you before that woman got here, so-"

"Wait, what woman?" Kaien asked blankly.

"What, you didn't notice her Reiatsu?" Shinji raised his eyebrow.

Kaien focused and stopped moving, his curiosity seeping into his face. "Where have I felt this Reiatsu before...?" he wondered.

"Someone you know?" Shinji asked, stopping next to him.

"I don't know... it's just somewhat familiar..." Kaien answered. He turned around and saw someone (indeed, someone familiar) walking behind them, not stopping in their gazes until she stood in front of them. "Wait... Candice? Were you following me?" he asked.

"No. I have Career Prep next," she answered.

"So do we," Shinji stated.

"I'm fairly sure you were following me..." Kaien persisted.

Candice glared at him. "I wasn't following you. Now drop it," she growled.

Kaien sighed. "Okay, okay. Geez, what is it with you and Miyako? Do you not like me? What have I done?" he asked rhetorically.

"Don't accuse anyone for that. Miyako has a solid reason, I simply want to be her friend, and you can't help it that you're a nobleman of the Shiba Clan. Just don't talk to us together until she warms up to you a bit," Candice stated sternly.

Kaien backed down, his face pensive while he continued walking to their next (and boring) class.

"So, you're a friend of this Miyako person, huh?" Shinji asked.

"Her, Kaien, and me are in the same Kidō class. Same group, too," Miyako stated, staring at her nails.

"Do you like that class?" Shinji asked.

"Meh. It's okay, I guess. Why?" she asked back.

"Nah, just wondering. I suck at Kidō, see?" he told her.

"Why not get Kaien to help you?"

"Huh? Why?" Shinji wondered.

"He's pretty good. He used Zangerin without chant or an actual sword and still broke the barrier, so I imagine he's pretty good at Kidō in general, and he's right here, so ask away. Besides, there're a couple of other people in my class that are good at Kidō if he says no," Candice explained.

This... kinda... sorta... stopped Shinji's legs from working and made him tumble over. (Candice, who was giggling, and Kaien, who was still pensive, kept on walking). Groaning, he got up and caught up to them.

"That's some story," Shinji said coolly after clearing his throat.

"No, it's true. Ask him, he's right here," she argued.

Shinji simply faced forward the entire walk there.

* * *

Right now, Candice was _not_ enjoying her first few days of school.

Of course, she was capable enough to have passed through high school and the Sternritter boot camp back in Silbern, as were her allies (and, frankly, she could easily call them her friends if one were to tie her up, then point a spear at her throat); and she was able to complete His Majesty's espionage training (also with her friends). However, despite having already gone through it all, school was _still_ boring as hell, even if she had basically taken similar classes back when she was training to become a Sternritter. She knew the stuff well enough to enter the gifted class (along with just two of her friends; whether the other two failed to place in the Advanced class on purpose like instructed or by their own lack of talents, she didn't know), and all she had _had_ to do was study a couple of Kidō spells she thought would blend with her Quincy powers, as well as figure out the basic principles of the Soul Reapers' training methods. Not hard, especially since she actually _was_ a gifted student, back at the Quincy version of the Soul Reaper Academy.

Aside from that, she accomplished getting arrested _and_ getting in good with a teacher in the past two days (the irony is killing me). Honestly, she knew Shisu was not an ordinary student when his Reiatsu floored many other students at the first day. However, after he had finished building a posse that respected him (or at the very least had been successfully intimidated by him), he had marched up to her and her four friends and tried intimidating _them_. Of course, they weren't _really_ intimidated. Although, in hindsight, joining a feared group of students may have not been the best idea, but at least he couldn't intimidate any of them. Really, he basically _asked_ for a beatdown by intimidating a loose cannon such as Candice. Still, she complied and joined peacefully (along with the other four Quincies that had come with her).

Then, of course, there just _had_ to be an encounter with one of the students that could only be described as a genius and/or a prodigy.

Sure, she hadn't been the center of attention, but it still hurt her pride a little to be overpowered so easily by one guy while she was with a group of at least twenty others (including her friends, who were at least strong enough to keep up with her).

But, anyway, now wasn't the time for that. It was lunch now; the morning classes had finished. And she preferred to follow her orders and actually watch for unusual people in the courtyard where the students with dorm rooms nearby sat down and had lunch after picking up a plate of food from the mess hall (not everyone had to eat in the same place as long as they didn't leave school grounds; the Headmaster explained this on the first day where all the first years gathered in assembly and toured the school. It was a rather large courtyard; everyone was able to sit in their groups that were their friends, including the five Quincies-in-disguise.

One was the pink-haired Meninas McAllon, who was lost in thought at the moment; another was a little blond girl named Liltotto Lamperd, who was lost in a basket of sweet rolls; a third was Bambietta Basterbine, who was lost in looking at the crowd; Candice was the fourth, who was more staring off into space than into the crowd; and the fifth member of the group was Giselle Gewelle, a girl with black hair, part of which was a pair of antennae-like hairs that stuck out from her head.

"Candy-chan! What are you looking at?" -that was her right there.

Bambietta sighed. "Gigi, you know why we're here, right?"

Giselle, or Gigi to her friends, scoffed. "Of course. We're supposed to look for strange people, right? Well, how many strange people do you see around here?" she answered.

"No, but you never know when -" started Bambietta.

She suddenly stopped talking in startled silence.

"Hey, do you sense that?" she whispered.

"Sense what?" Giselle asked.

"That Reiatsu... it's different. Let me see... Crap! A Hollow," Bambietta shout-whispered.

"A Hollow? I don't feel it..." Giselle asked.

Suddenly, she stopped speaking too. As a figure swept by the table like an apparition (not a soul; we know how _they_ walk), she froze in surprise.

"...Never mind," she said.

"Where is that coming from?" Liltotto asked, munching on a sweet roll.

"I can't tell... it just vanished," Bambietta answered.

"How? Reiatsu doesn't just vanish. Plus, there must have been some clear source," Candice asked.

"Do you think I would know?" Bambietta asked back. Candice merely rolled her eyes.

"I'll watch her," Meninas stated.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Meni-chan?" Giselle asked.

"That Reiatsu just now was my roommate's," Meninas answered, taking a bite of her sandwich (not a huge hoagie, a sandwich).

"What?! Your roommate is a..." Bambietta started loudly, then quieted down to a whisper, "Your roommate is a Hollow and yet you don't tell us until now? Why didn't you tell us yesterday?"

"I was worried you would freak out and try to kill her. I was observing her to see what she would do, but she seems to actually be going through school as if she wanted to be a Soul Reaper. Plus, I think she's different from a normal Hollow," Meninas explained.

"No kidding. She would _have_ to be if nobody has busted her for being a Hollow yet, including you," Candice deadpanned.

"I'm serious. She actually looks human. Plus, I've felt her Reiatsu for the past couple of days. It does sometimes fluctuate like a Hollow's does, but then it goes right back to being even and calm. I think that there's more to her than simply being a Hollow," Meninas answered calmly.

"...Booooooring! I say we murderate her!" Giselle said cheerfully.

Meninas' eyes suddenly narrowed into a glare. "Do that and I will cut off your penis," she threatened.

"Meni-chan! I thought we weren't going to talk about that!" Giselle whined.

"Then don't kill her yet. Let me learn more about her. If I am wrong, I will kill her myself," Meninas stated coldly.

Bambietta sighed. "Okay, Meninas, but I think you're just putting too much faith in her," she answered resignedly.

Candice snorted. "Who made you our leader?" she asked.

"Huh? I've always been the leader of our group, haven't I?" Bambietta asked.

"Nope," Candice refuted blankly.

"Nuh-uh," Liltotto added, munching on another roll.

"It's the first _I've_ heard of it," Meninas stated.

"When was _that_?" Giselle asked.

Bambietta sighed. "Our Majesty made me the leader, you know," she stated matter-of-factly.

"He did?" Meninas asked.

"Yeah. Why do you think I'm the one who was given the order to come to the Seireitei with four other Sternritter?" Bambietta asked rhetorically. "Plus, I'm clearly the leader. I'm the strongest one of us," she added.

"Oh yeah? Beat Meninas in an arm wrestle and then we'll talk," Candice demanded sarcastically.

"What's gotten you in a sour mood, bitch?" Liltotto asked.

"I'm not in a bad mood," Candice argued.

"Actually, yes, you are. It's pretty obvious. If you don't tell us why, we won't be able to do anything when it comes back to haunt you," Meninas stated sagely.

"Yeah, yeah, _Mother_ ," Candice said sarcastically. The group declined into silence for a minute.

Finally, Candice replied. "It's this guy in my Kidō class. He came up to talk to me and Miyako. The thing is, he's from one of the Five Great Noble Families, so I would expect him to be some form of a jerk, but... he didn't do anything like that. He wasn't being obnoxiously flirty, he wasn't insulting us, he wasn't getting mad over nothing, like you'd expect of a jerk. Remember Rosario? Now _that_ was a jerk. But this guy... he's... different," she explained, looking at Meninas.

"Oh yeah, him. I think he tried to grope me that one time before he got executed..." Giselle stated blankly.

"Who's Miyako?" Meninas asked.

"She's my roommate and she's in my group in Kidō class. I've learned a bit about her and about the Five Great Noble Families of Soul Society, and they sound like jerks. I mean, every guy in her life has broken her heart, and all of them were from the Five Great Noble Families: her father, her brothers, her past boyfriends, that slave trader..." Candice explained.

"Okay, go on with the story. How is this guy different?" Liltotto asked, putting aside the basket which was on her lap.

"Well, he's actually nice. I mean, he didn't seem to have an ulterior motive for coming up to talk to us this morning. Although I can't imagine why he did that; we've been glaring at him the whole time we've been here. He's... confusing," she explained.

"Does it have to do with the fact that he's acting completely different from what you'd expect?" Meninas asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Candice answered.

"Give him time. He might be from a family of jerks, but that doesn't make him a jerk. He might be planning to leave the family or something, you know?" Meninas advised.

"Hmm... yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Meninas," Candice stated gratefully.

"Wow, that never gets old," Giselle stated, amazed.

"What doesn't get old?" Meninas asked.

"You're so... wise and mature! I don't know how you do it!" she answered, smiling.

Meninas smiled. "Thanks, but there really isn't much to that. I just grew up alone, that's all," she stated.

"Oh, don't downplay it so much! It's really helpful when one of us needs advice!" Giselle commented.

"I appreciate your flattery, but we already broke up, remember? Don't try flirting with me," Meninas advised.

Giselle shrank away after that, muttering under her breath, "I was just giving you a compliment..."

Then Liltotto spoke up, "Speaking of that, Meninas, I could use your advice too," she said.

"Oh? Well, what's wrong?" she asked.

"You know that guy in our Living World Languages class? The one with the eyepatch?" Liltotto asked.

"You mean Ichigo? Yes. What about him?" Meninas asked in response.

"He seems to be friends with Mira, plus he's talented," Liltotto detailed.

"'Talented'?" Bambietta asked.

"Yeah. You were there! He tied up you and everyone else in the group with a single Kidō spell!" Liltotto said exasperatedly.

Candice crushed the chopsticks she was just holding. "Don't ever mention that again," she threatened calmly.

Liltotto sweat-dropped. "Right. Well... we should watch out for him too. From what I could gather sitting next to him, he's powerful, he's clever, he's alert, and he might stand in our way. Plus, I kinda like Mira. She's a nice girl," she answered.

"Is Mira _your_ roommate?" Meninas asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Liltotto responded.

"Oh, nothing important," Meninas dismissed the question. (... I think she almost broke the 4th wall)

Shrugging, Liltotto continued talking. "Now, my question is this: how do we watch him? He seems to be... quiet, guarded. It's almost as if he's been through some sort of trauma or something. Like a... well, like you, only a guy instead," Liltotto asked.

Meninas put her finger to her chin for a moment before answering with, "Well, in my experience with _guarded_ people, I think all you have to do is become their friend. Just don't get on his bad side and doing that stays as easy as possible."

Liltotto dropped off into thought for a second. "Huh... Never thought of it like that. Thanks, Meninas," she smiled, taking another sweet roll from the basket beside her.

:::::::::::::::::::::::

Edit 5/3/16: Okay, I just read the latest chapter. About the "visions" thing with Yhwach... Can I just say I had absolutely no idea I was right? Because I didn't. I have a weird knack for just writing something and later finding it to be true. Either way, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, either ignore this or read chapter 672, the latest chapter as of today (from my source, at least), and you'll know what I mean.

Whew! Finally finished that. And that was only a small portion of the day!


	6. Back to Our Original Programming

Hello! Sorry for those of you who went to see the last chapter and saw my Fairy Tail story instead... Anyway, I changed the chapter to what it _actually_ is, and I have to leave soon (in real life), so I'll just end this note off here. Bye!


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